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Claiming he won\u2019t fight on Zuffa terms gives him a business-related out. It sounds more professional than saying he doesn\u2019t want to get in the ring with a southpaw who has the speed and power of Opetaia, but fans aren\u2019t buying it, especially since they were linked for a fight long before the Zuffa deal.<\/p>\n Calling out Dmitry Bivol right now is a safe play because that fight is essentially impossible to make in the short term. Bivol is busy with Michael Eifert on May 30 and then likely tied up in a massive trilogy with Artur Beterbiev later this year.<\/p>\n By targeting Bivol, Benavidez is effectively booking himself a busy schedule that doesn\u2019t involve a fight until 2027. It allows him to stay in the conversation as an elite pound-for-pound seeker without actually having to face the cruiserweight gold standard in Opetaia.<\/p>\n Opetaia responded shortly after on social media: \u201cEnjoy your victory champ\u2026 See you soon!!!\u201d<\/p>\n The sentiment on social media has chang.d For a long time, Benavidez was the boogeyman everyone was ducking, especially Canelo Alvarez.<\/p>\n Now, the roles have reversed at 200 lbs. Fan sentiment today across X is that Benavidez is running to 175 to find a guy wth a full dance card just so he doesn\u2019t have to deal with Jai.<\/p>\n If Benavidez really wanted to prove he is the king of the cruiserweights, the Opetaia fight is the only one that truly settles the debate, belts or no belts. Choosing a path that leads to a two-year wait for Bivol instead of a cross-promotion blockbuster with Opetaia makes the fear narrative hard to ignore.<\/p>\n Tom Reynolds is a boxing analyst covering major fights and career turning points, with a focus on performance, trajectory, and long-term implications.<\/p>\n Click here to subscribe to our FREE newsletter<\/a>Related Boxing News:<\/p>\n \t\t\tCategories David Benavidez<\/a>, Gilberto Ramirez<\/a>, Jai Opetaia<\/a> \t\t<\/p>\n Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb David Benavidez<\/a> \u00bb David Benavidez rejects Jai Opetaia Zuffa fight<\/p>\n Last Updated on 2026\/05\/03 at 9:25 AM \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Benavidez drew a clear line after his win over Gilberto Ramirez, saying a fight with Jai Opetaia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-645603","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\/645603","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=645603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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