{"id":622600,"date":"2026-04-23T05:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T05:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/622600\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T05:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T05:02:12","slug":"david-benavidez-says-jai-opetaia-fight-may-be-delayed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/622600\/","title":{"rendered":"David Benavidez Says Jai Opetaia Fight May Be Delayed"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"Add<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n


\n \"Follow
\n <\/a> <\/p>\n

Benavidez is preparing to challenge Gilberto \u201cZurdo\u201d Ramirez on May 2 in Las Vegas, but discussion on social media quickly moved to his comments about Opetaia, who many view as the leading name at 200 pounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kind of had everything set,\u201d Benavidez said to Ariel Helwani. \u201cOnce we get past Zurdo Ramirez, we were going to be able to make that fight happen in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that fight is completely taken off. But I think it was just put back like one or two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cduck\u201d narrative is catching fire on social media because of how quickly the mood shifted from \u201clet\u2019s unify\u201d to \u201cmaybe in a couple of years\u201d from Benavidez.<\/p>\n

The sentiment on social media is pretty ruthless right now. People aren\u2019t buying the \u201cpromotional hurdles\u201d excuse because they\u2019ve seen Turki Alalshikh and Dana White make huge things happen when the will is there.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tough look for someone who calls himself the \u201cMexican Monster.\u201d When you go from being the guy everyone is avoiding to the guy who is suddenly talking about \u201cone or two year\u201d timelines, the fans are going to jump all over that.<\/p>\n

People are dissecting David\u2019s body language in recent interviews, claiming he looks far more comfortable talking about Zurdo Ramirez than the \u201cmonster\u201d from Australia.<\/p>\n

Some fans feel that after years of Benavidez calling out Canelo and Bivol, he can\u2019t suddenly claim he \u201cneeds to get used to the weight\u201d when a dangerous, undefeated champion like Opetaia is ready to go right now.<\/p>\n

The fear for Benavidez\u2019s stock is real. Jai Opetaia is a natural 200-pounder with elite southpaw movement and legitimate one-punch power.<\/p>\n

Opetaia has a high KO percentage (around 77%) and has shown he can break jaws and end nights early. If Benavidez takes that fight and gets sparked, the \u201cMexican Monster\u201d aura is gone.<\/p>\n

Fans are saying that by pushing it back a year or two, he\u2019s hoping Opetaia might age out or lose a step, which is a bad look for someone who prides himself on being the ultimate boogeyman.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tough spot for Benavidez. If he beats Zurdo on May 2 but keeps making excuses about Opetaia, that \u201cduck\u201d label is going to stick, and boxing fans can be unforgiving when they feel a legacy is being protected.<\/p>\n

Benavidez first has business to handle against Ramirez in a major Cinco de Mayo weekend title fight. If he wins, calls for the Opetaia fight are only likely to grow louder, even if Benavidez now believes it may take time to make.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ken Woods has been a senior writer at Boxing News 24 since 2013, covering the sport from every angle. With years of ringside reporting, he delivers fight news, results, and analysis that cut through the noise. Ken\u2019s work consistently spotlights champions, contenders, and rising prospects, giving fans a sharp, knowledgeable view of the global boxing scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benavidez is preparing to challenge Gilberto \u201cZurdo\u201d Ramirez on May 2 in Las Vegas, but discussion on social…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-622600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}