IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs) put on an impressive performance, scoring a sixth round knockout of #10 contender Jack Massey (22-3, 12 KOs) in a voluntary defense on Saturday night at the Kingdom. Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The fight was stopped at 2:00 of the sixth round after Massey’s trainer threw in the towel. Massey fought passively throughout the fight, seeming afraid to throw punches for fear of being countered by one of the powerful shots from the southpaw Opetaia.
Massey, 31, had been hit at will by Opetaia from the first round and only rarely threw anything back. When Massey occasionally hit Opetaia with a good shot, it sent the champion retreating like a bolt of lightning had struck him.
The 29-year-old Opetaia was uncomfortable with Massey’s shots, but the British fighter didn’t hit him enough to be competitive. It would have been interesting if Massey had gone all out with his offense because Opetaia froze for a split second when she was hit by him. This suggests that his punch resistance is not as good as it should be for him to be in wars.
Overall, Opetaia performed much better than in his previous fight against Mairis Briedis on May 18 of this year. In the later rounds of that fight, Opetaia struggled under the pressure of the 39-year-old Briedis and began to get knocked around by the former champion.
This fight showed that Opetaia does not like to be pressured and does not react well when he is hit. We saw some of that at times tonight as well, but Massey didn’t provide enough offense to highlight the weakness that Briedis had exposed.
Opetaia wants to fight the winner of tonight’s main event between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. He would have a good chance of beating Bivol, who can’t punch, but Beterbiev would be a nightmare for him.
Beterbiev would attack relentlessly, butcher Opetaia on the inside, and likely put him out quickly. Opetaia showed tonight that he doesn’t have an inside game. It is strictly an outdoor bomber with no heart for the give and take in a war.
Last updated on 10/12/2024
