Artur Beterbiev’s trainer, John Scully, says Turki Alalshikh’s idea of wanting the winner of Artur’s fight light heavyweight championship undisputed fight with Dmitry Bivol shooting up to cruiserweight to take on former IBF champ Jai Opetaia isn’t likely to happen.
That would be a massive 25 lb weight jump for Beterbiev to go up to cruiserweight from 175 if he agreed to Alalshikh’s idea. It would be like asking Opetaia to go up to heavyweight to take on one of the top guys.
Scully’s Stance: “No Say” for Alalshikh
“Honestly, I have no idea about that. With all due respect, I don’t think that guy [His Excellency Turki Alalshikh], it’s not his place to map out Artur’s [Beteriev] career. He has no say about that,” said trainer John Scully to Boxing King Media about Turki Alalshikh of Saudi Arabia wanting the winner of the light heavyweight undisputed championship fight between champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol moving up in weight 25 lbs from 175 to 200 to take on former IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia.
“Maybe that’s what he [Turki Alashikh] wants, but that has no bearing on what we do,” said Scully.
For Beterbiev to take that fight at cruiserweight, he would likely need to pack on a lot of weight, making it difficult for him to trim off afterward to return to the 175-lb division.
Opetaia is not a big name outside of Australia, and he’s never beaten anyone of note during his career other than 39-year-old Mairis Briedis. As such, Beterbiev would be doing Opetaia a favor by taking this fight.
If the idea behind this move by the Saudis is to build Opetaia into a star by beating the more popular but smaller Beterbiev, it’s troubling. Opetaia should fight guys from his own division or move up to heavyweight fight for the undisputed championship.
If Ngannou is being permitted potentially to fight for the the undisputed championship, Opetaia should as well. The Saudis can make that happen in Opetaia’s first fight at heavyweight.
Alashikh has played a part in some odd match-ups recently, with Tyson Fury, who is widely recognized as the #1 heavyweight on this planet, taking on an MMA fighter, Francis Ngannou, in a boxing match that was shockingly sanctioned.
Now, Anthony Joshua is fighting Ngannou (0-1) in a fight with the winner to battle for the undisputed heavyweight championship.
