{"id":807654,"date":"2026-10-19T14:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/807654\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T14:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:58:08","slug":"david-benavidez-delivers-honest-verdict-on-deontay-wilder-vs-jai-opetaia-he-gets-hit-a-lot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/807654\/","title":{"rendered":"David Benavidez delivers honest verdict on Deontay Wilder vs Jai Opetaia: &#8220;He gets hit a lot&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/david-benavidez\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">David Benavidez<\/a> has admitted to being somewhat concerned about a potential clash between <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/deontay-wilder-on-fury-joshua-card\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Deontay Wilder and Jai Opetaia<\/a>, given that the outcome could scupper his plans for Cinco de Mayo weekend in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>According to multiple reports, Opetaia could feature on the Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua undercard and make his heavyweight debut at Cardiff\u2019s Principality Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, the Australian may end up fighting on December 11 against former WBC champion Wilder, who is coming off a split decision victory over fellow veteran Derek Chisora in April.<\/p>\n<p>Opetaia, meanwhile, secured a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/boxing\/story\/_\/id\/49923376\/opetaia-rocks-mikaelian-9th-round-tko-faces-ring-benavidez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ninth-round stoppage of Noel Mikaelian<\/a> last month, before going face-to-face with cruiserweight rival Benavidez shortly after.<\/p>\n<p>The pair then <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/benavidez-sets-date-for-opetaia-fight\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">verbally agreed to lock horns in May of next year<\/a>, with Benavidez seemingly willing to defend his world titles against the former two-time IBF champion.<\/p>\n<p>With Opetaia potentially gearing up to face Wilder, however, their encounter at 200lbs could be extinguished by a single right hand from the \u2018Bronze Bomber\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/GcYlJdonq4Q?si=PtV46hNw-l3JtjN2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Last Stand Podcast<\/a>, Benavidez acknowledged the power of Wilder who, even at 40 years old, is still considered one of the biggest punchers at heavyweight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want Jai to fight Wilder. With Wilder, he has that right hand. And it\u2019s fast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe only has that one shot, but it\u2019s fast. And Opetaia surprised me in his last fight, because he got hurt like four times. And Mikaelian is super slow.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOpetaia is not a slick fighter that doesn\u2019t get hit \u2013 he gets hit a lot. And Wilder\u2019s a world-class [puncher]. If you give him the opportunity, he\u2019s going to find that right hand. You can say whatever you want about Wilder, but he still has that cannon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As his Cinco de Mayo fight with Opetaia hangs in the balance, Benavidez is set to face WBC champion Michal Cieslak in a three-belt unification match this December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Benavidez has admitted to being somewhat concerned about a potential clash between Deontay Wilder and Jai Opetaia,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-807654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}