The cruiserweight division is full of exciting fighters, but a legend has praised one in particular.
Oleksandr Usyk is known for clearing out the cruiserweight division before going undisputed in a second weight class with two wins over Anthony Joshua and two wins against Tyson Fury.
One of the men Usyk beat, a man who gave him the toughest test of his career, was Mairis Briedis, a cruiserweight who Usyk beat by majority decision in 2018.
Briedis, who retired with a 28-3 record, was beaten by just two men, and has warned the cruiserweight division that ‘there’s a killer on the loose.’
‘Look in his eyes and you see loads of fire there’… Mairis Briedis reveals the cruiserweight he believes beats them all
In an interview with The Ring, Briedis spoke on his retirement and on the two men who beat him.
Though Usyk gave Briedis his maiden loss, it was an Australian cruiserweight that defeated him twice.
In 2022, Briedis, who called out Jake Paul, lost in an upset against rising contender Jai Opetaia, who claimed his IBF world title. A rematch in 2024 ended the same way and put Briedis into retirement for good.
Speaking on those fights, and on Opetaia in general, Briedis said: “He’s very unique, has the ultimate combat warrior-type charisma and even his pad work is devastating, it gives off the vibe that there’s a killer on the loose.”
“In our first fight, I started too late and broke his jaw in two places, so was a whisker away from winning. I was completely compromised in the second, yet still competitive.”
Jai Opetaia’s ideal next opponent could face Jake Paul instead
Opetaia is set to face Claudio Squeo next, an unimpressive cruiserweight who, on paper, should be an easy night’s work for the Aussie.
The cruiserweight does, however, hope for a unification fight, perhaps with Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, who is coming off of a win over Chris Billam-Smith.
Ramirez will defend his WBO title against 27-2 Yuniel Dorticos on the undercard of Jake Paul vs Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Roy Jones Jr. called out Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. for the undercard, too.
A win for Ramirez could mean Jake Paul eyes him as his next opponent, in his first shot at a world title.
Opetaia told The Ring: “I don’t know what he wants to do or what he’s trying to do … he’s chasing coin, you can’t knock him if he wants to fight Jake Paul for a huge lump sum of money, who’d turn that down? I’d bash Jake Paul for a [expletive] couple mil, too. So it is what it is.”