Tyson Fury’s decision to bring in reigning cruiserweight king Jai Opetaia to imitate Oleksandr Usyk before the undisputed heavyweight championship fight on February 17 seemed to be the ideal blend of top-notch sparring.
In addition to sharing nearly the same height and reach as Usyk, Opetaia(24-0, 19KOs) from Australia also has uncannily comparable style choices. Similar to Usyk(21-0, 14KOs), Opetaia is a quick-hitting southpaw with excellent side-to-side mobility and excellent defensive abilities.
Though many anticipated that Opetaia would be Fury’s main sparring partner for the remainder of camp, their fistic marriage only lasted five rounds.
Commentator Ben Damon claims that Opetaia departed the camp because Fury(34-0-1, 24 KOs) required further “orthodox sparring” in order to get ready for Usyk. Boxing fans don’t think Opetaia departed the camp for that reason. They think that because he dropped Fury like a bad habit, he was asked to leave the camp.
Due to Usyk’s unconventional fighting style, Opetaia would be Fury’s perfect sparring partner. Unless he was using his strong left hand to drop the huge lug flatlining him. That would certainly be a valid excuse to kick Opetaia out of the camp, wouldn’t it?
There are a lot of stories going around regarding Opetaia, the strong southpaw, dropping Fury a 35 year old boxer from England, who some believe is old and washed up at this point in his career.
“Yep, I heard it didn’t happen,” said Damon in response to the rumors.
“Jai Opetaia did five rounds of sparring with Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia, but with a lack of orthodox sparring in Fury’s camp, Opetaia has now returned to Australia to continue his own preparations for the planned Mairis Briedis rematch at #FuryUsyk,” said Ben Damon in a post on X.
Opetaita, winner of the Ring Magazine cruiserweight title, who is scheduled to fight Mairis Briedis(28-2, 20KOs) on the undercard of Fury vs. Usyk, has returned home to complete his preparations.
In2022, Opetaia had significant challenges in his attempt to take out Briedis, 39, from Latvia and win the IBF championship. Even though Opetaia prevailed, it was not an easy battle for him.
Regarding Fury, it’s difficult to reject the notion that Opetaia knocked him down since fans find it impossible to believe anything else. At this point in his career, Fury is so slow, overweight, chinny, and easy to hit that sparring with an opponent like Opetaia in the camp wouldn’t be beneficial to his health or preparation his bout with Usyk.
Many fans feel that Fury should have lost his most recent bout in October, since he was badly floored by novice Francis Ngannou.
(Additional reporting provided by Miriam Onyango)
