The heavyweight division is as exciting now as it has been in years but Carl Froch would still like to see one addition to it.
At the very top of the tree currently is Oleksandr Usyk, who was briefly the first undisputed champion in almost 25 years when he beat Tyson Fury to claim all the belts.
In order to rematch ‘The Gypsy King’, he had to vacate his IBF belt which is to be contested by former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua and newly-elevated Daniel Dubois in a huge all-British showdown at Wembley in September.
On the fringes and hoping to work their way into contention for a title shot are the likes of Zhilei Zhang fresh off the back of beating Deontay Wilder in June, and Martin Bakole, who recently stopped young American hopeful Jared Anderson.
Speaking on his own YouTube channel, Froch on Fighting, former world champion Froch would like to see one more man step up to the banner division and that is the current IBF and Ring Magazine cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia.
“What a monster he is at cruiserweight. He’s Ring Magazine champion so he is officially the best cruiserweight in the world at the moment and I think he will have one eye on stepping up to heavyweight cause he’s an awkward southpaw, similar to what Usyk did. Top fighter, strong, and he’s a southpaw so he’ll be looking to step up to heavyweight at some point and he’s good enough to step up, he’s a southpaw, he’s a banger, he’s a top fighter …
Opetaia – who was a brief sparring partner of Fury’s for his first Usyk bout – was last out in a rematch with Mairis Breidis which he won to reclaim his IBF title and will defend it against Jack Massey in Saudi Arabia on the undercard of the light heavyweight clash between Dimiry Bivl and Artur Beterbiev.
With a ferociousness that’s endlessly watchable, Opetaia has become a fan-favourite. He hasn’t ruled out a move to the top division in the footsteps of Usyk, but first wants to do what the Ukrainian did in the cruiserweight ranks – unify the belts.
