Roy Jones Jr has advised David Benavidez to swerve a clash with Jai Opetaia in favour of facing Oleksandr Usyk.
Saudi Arabian boxing chief, Turki Alalshikh called for a Usyk-Benavidez fight after the latter destroyed Zurdo Ramirez in the sixth round to become the unified WBO and WBA cruiserweight world champion on Saturday.
Hall of Fame inductee, Jones Jr moved up to heavyweight and won the WBA championship in 2003 against John Ruiz and has urged Benavidez to pursue a showdown with unified heavyweight champion, Usyk instead of former cruiserweight titlist, Opetaia.
“It is not smart for David Benavidez to give Jai Opetaia a shot at his name right now,” the 57-year-old said on All The Smoke Fight.
“Because he’s hot right now.
“You go up and fight Usyk while you’re hot and it makes sense.
“You can always come back down and fight Opetaia if you want to.
“If you lose to Usyk, the Opetaia fight is still there.
“If you lose to Opetaia, the Usyk fight is gone.
“So be smart about this thing.
“Go take Usyk while the iron is hot.
“Why would you play with a guy who’s just as dangerous as Usyk, not as known as Usyk, not going to bring you as much money as Usyk, when you can just go straight to Usyk?”
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Opetaia was stripped of his IBF belt after winning the Zuffa Boxing title against Brandon Glanton in March.
Benavidez intends to return to light heavyweight where he holds the WBC title in hopes of securing an undisputed clash with unified titlist, Dmitry Bivol.
Bivol defends his belts against Michael Eifert on May 30 in Russia and ‘The Mexican Monster’ claims talks are already underway.
“We’re going after Dmitry Bivol,” the 28-year-old said on The Ariel Helwani Show.
“Now I won two more titles at cruiserweight.
“Now it’s time to capture the rest of the titles at light heavyweight.
“We’re already in talks.
“It will definitely happen by the end of the year.”
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