The Best Fight On The Card, And It Was Not Close
Right then. While everybody was waiting for the main event, Jai Opetaia and Noel Mikaelian went out and had the fight of the night in the co-main.
Opetaia stopped Mikaelian at 1:30 of the ninth round, and here is the line that matters: nobody had ever done that to Mikaelian. A two-time WBC cruiserweight champion, twenty-eight wins deep before Saturday, never once stopped. Opetaia broke him. That moves the Australian to 31-0 with 24 knockouts and it is comfortably the best win of his career.
It Was Not A Walkover
Let's be honest about how it went, because the scoreline flatters nobody. Mikaelian is a clever, awkward, deeply experienced fighter and for six rounds he made Opetaia work for every inch.
Then in the seventh he landed a right hand that properly rocked Opetaia. Not a flash shot — a clean, sharp, hurtful right hand that had the Australian holding his feet for a few seconds longer than he wanted to. If Mikaelian had been able to follow it up, we would be writing a very different piece this morning.
He could not. And that is the difference between a very good cruiserweight and a great one.
The Ninth
Opetaia came out for the ninth and simply turned the dial. He hurt Mikaelian, drove him back onto the ropes and did not let him breathe. Harvey Dock ruled a knockdown in the exchange and then waved the whole thing off.
What impressed me was the patience before it. Opetaia had eight rounds of evidence in the bank and he spent them all working out where Mikaelian was vulnerable — the body, the right hand over the top of a lazy jab return. Then he cashed in. That is championship boxing, not a lucky night.
Benavidez Was Over The Ropes Before The Ring Cleared
David Benavidez, sat in the front row holding a cruiserweight world title of his own, climbed straight in. The two squared up, kept it respectful, and everybody in the arena understood exactly what they were looking at.
No date. No venue. Nothing announced. But a unification between the two men who own the 200lb division does not need a promoter's imagination to sell it, and the fact that Benavidez was ringside with his kit ready tells you the conversations are already happening.
Who Wins That?
I am not sitting on the fence. Benavidez is a monster, and moving up from 168lb he has carried his pressure and his volume with him. But he has also collected defeats in a way Opetaia has not, and he has never fought anybody with Opetaia's timing.
Luke's Verdict
Make no mistake — Jai Opetaia is the best cruiserweight in the world and it is not particularly close. He is 31-0, he has now stopped a man nobody had stopped, and he does it while giving away very little in the process.
My call: Opetaia beats Benavidez on points over twelve, and does it by making Benavidez lead into a southpaw counter all night. Benavidez will have his rounds — he always does — but the cleaner, sharper, more disciplined fighter takes it, and Opetaia leaves undisputed.
Get that fight made. More cruiserweight coverage on our news page.