“We’d Destroy Him” — Team Benavidez Dismisses Opetaia After Glanton Fight
WTF ? Surely April Fool's Day has come early !!!
David Benavidez hasn’t even fought for the cruiserweight titles yet, but his team is already talking about what comes next — and they don’t seem overly impressed with Australia’s undefeated champion Jai Opetaia.
Benavidez is preparing for a major test against Gilberto Ramirez on May 2 in a fight that could crown him unified cruiserweight champion. But while that bout remains the immediate focus, Team Benavidez is already eyeing the rest of the division.
And Jai Opetaia is THE DIVISION !
But after watching his recent win over Brandon Glanton, Benavidez’s father and trainer José Benavidez Sr. didn’t hold back.
According to Benavidez Sr., the Australian star didn’t look nearly as dangerous as his reputation suggests.
“He looked tired in there,” Benavidez Sr. said.
"He couldn’t get Glanton out of there and didn’t make the adjustments.
With David’s pressure, experience, and power — we would stop and destroy him.”
DESTROY HIM ?
Possibly the drink talking, or tongue in cheek optimism ?
The Benavidez move to light heavyweight has been successful yet hardly ominous, with Gvozdyk and Morrell showing him that quality bigger boys aren't so easy to push around. These were tough and hard fought battles for David Benavidez, where he possessed no observable physical ascendancy.
And yet Team Benavidez are talking it up as if they already own the cruiserweight division ?
This is Opetaia's house, one that has been built on a trail of broken bodies, enhancing a reputation as one of the most avoided fighters in the sport.
But for now, Benavidez must first get past Ramirez. And if he succeeds, the war of words with Opetaia could quickly turn into one of boxing’s most explosive cruiserweight showdowns — potentially later this year or in early 2027.
Despite suffering narrow losses, Ben Ligas and Jules Victoriano produced next level performances in the belt fights in Vietnam last night.
Ligas faced the vastly experienced Uzbek, the much revered "mini Tyson " Olimjon Nazarov. This was quality boxing from both, with "the Sniper" bringing the cleaner punches, but perhaps lacking the aggression of Nazarov, who looked constantly keen for work. This was a hard match to score, as neither fighter was particularly dominant in a see sawing affair, and the body shot in the 11th where Ligas took a knee was perhaps the only real difference.
Dinh Hong Quan is physically indomitable, and with his height and reach, this improving Vietnam boxer is a task for anybody. It was anticipated that Jules Victoriano would give him his toughest test to date, and he definitely didn't disappoint !
This was a great fight, and is probably best viewed in two parts. Victoriano boxed beautifully in the early rounds, but despite landing nice shots, the Vietnam champ kept stealing rounds with some heavier and more direct landed shots. Quan also "appeared" more dominant, more frequently backing Victoriano up and putting him on to combos.
Going into the second half of the fight, Victoriano definitely lifted his output and accuracy, and even gave the Vietnam opponent a couple of "dig deep" moments !
This was an exciting and fantastic match up, that very easily could have been scored a draw, it was that evenly contested! There is no doubt that Dinh Hong Quan produced the best performance of his career last night, and this was really needed because of the beautiful boxing skills displayed by Jules Victoriano.
VSP would love to see these two great young fighters rematch at a later date, maybe on a bigger stage!
Post event, all smiles, and pictured are Coach Toto Laurente, Ben Ligas, VSP Vietnam boss Lim Song, and Jules Victoriano. Great job by all !
