Jack Massey faces arguably the toughest test of his professional career when he takes on IBF and Ring Magazine cruiserweight champion, Jai Opetaia on October 12.
Massey challenges Opetaia for his titles on the stacked Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol undercard, which takes place in Saudi Arabia as part of the Riyadh Season.
Few pundits are giving ‘One Smack’ much of a chance, with his opponent widely regarded as the number one fighter in the division.
However, Opetaia had some ropey moments towards the end of his most recent bout, a rematch with 39-year-old Mairis Briedis – who retired a matter of days later.
And speaking to proboxing-fans.com, Massey revealed he had been over to Latvia to spar Briedis on several occasions, and believes injuries and age had him depleted in both fights with the Australian southpaw.
“There’s a few things we’ve been seeing. I’ve been over to Latvia a few times to spar Briedis.
“He does carry injuries and he was at the back end of his career when Jai fought him.”
Though he goes into the fight as a wide betting underdog, the 31-year-old is coming off arguably a career-best win, defeating Isaac Chamberlain over 12 rounds to claim the European title back in June.
‘One Smack’ has also not disgraced himself when stepping up to the highest level – he went 10 rounds in his sole venture at heavyweight against former world champion, Joseph Parker last year.
Opetaia, however, made light work of the two other English cruiserweights he has faced. He stopped Jordan Thompson in four rounds last September, before taking less than one to brutally stop Ellis Zorro three months later.
Brutal
Jai Opetaia gets the first round KO in spectacular fashion. #RiyadhSeason pic.twitter.com/YGD1TFZHbH
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) December 24, 2023
Should the Sydney native get past Massey as expected, most fans will want to see him jump into a three belt unification against the winner of the November 16 unification fight between Gilberto Ramirez and Chris Billam-Smith, respective holders of the WBA and WBO titles.
That said, Massey does represent a step-up in class from the likes of Thompson and Zorro and he appears to be confident of stopping derailing the Opetaia hype train.
