{"id":907912,"date":"2026-09-27T23:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T23:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/907912\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T23:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T23:38:10","slug":"sparring-partner-makes-ko-prediction-for-david-benavidez-vs-jai-opetaia-hes-a-beast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/907912\/","title":{"rendered":"Sparring partner makes KO prediction for David Benavidez vs Jai Opetaia: “He’s a beast”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unbeaten super-middleweight Daniel Blancas has considered how David Benavidez<\/a>, who he spars on a consistent basis, would fare in a cruiserweight battle with Jai Opetaia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A potential showdown between the pair has been spoken about for quite some time, with both undefeated fighters facing off last weekend.<\/p>\n

This followed Opetaia\u2019s ninth-round stoppage of Noel Mikealian<\/a> and, with Benavidez entering the ring, they seemed genuinely eager to collide on Cinco de Mayo weekend in 2027.<\/p>\n

Before then, Benavidez is expected to face WBC champion Michal Cieslak on December 12, which, if it materialises, will signify the final fight on his current contract with Al Haymon\u2019s Premier Boxing Champions.<\/p>\n

Additionally, it would present \u2018The Mexican Monster\u2019 with an opportunity to unify his division after claiming the WBO and WBA world titles against Gilberto Ramirez in May.<\/p>\n

Back then, Benavidez was making his 200lb debut but nonetheless produced arguably a career-best performance, dethroning Ramirez with an emphatic sixth-round finish<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And while Opetaia poses a vastly different challenge, particularly from a stylistic perspective, the Jose Benavidez Sr-trained Blancas has told Sean Zittel<\/a> that he would predict a similar outcome for May 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a great fight; that\u2019s an amazing fight. Opetaia \u2013 he\u2019s a beast. His power \u2013 he can hit. He\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, though, much respect to him and his team but David \u2013 you guys saw what he did to [Ramirez]. Even at cruiserweight, his speed didn\u2019t go nowhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis speed was still there, his explosiveness was still there \u2026 he was even stronger. I just think that, if he were to face Opetaia, it\u2019s going to be the exact same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Blancas training at the same gym as Benavidez, it is hardly surprising that he favours the 29-year-old to defeat Opetaia, who currently holds The Ring cruiserweight title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unbeaten super-middleweight Daniel Blancas has considered how David Benavidez, who he spars on a consistent basis, would fare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-907912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}