Brandon Glanton’s former opponent Chris Billam-Smith has warned him he needs to start fast if he is to have any chance of succeeding on Sunday against Jai Opetaia.
Glanton is Opetaia’s opponent as Las Vegas’ Meta Apex on the occasion of not only the Australian’s first fight in the US, but first since becoming the most significant signing Zuffa Boxing have made.
Billam-Smith, of England, considers Opetaia – the IBF champion – the world’s leading cruiserweight. Having defeated Glanton in a competitive fight in April he also considers the 34 year old one of the toughest he has faced.
He considers the 30-year-old Opetaia sufficiently complete that he believes Glanton’s greatest hope of beating him exists in capitalising on the openings that have presented themselves to other opponents early on in their contests – but which they ultimately haven’t fully taken advantage of.
“Glanton’s only chance is in the first half of the fight,” Billam-Smith told BoxingScene. “He’d have to catch Opetaia like other people have done – [David] Nyika caught him; [Huseyin] Cinkara caught him as well – and then jump on him, which he would do.
“He’s got good pressure. He’s got a good chin; toughness, which is something you need at the top level. He’s got good power – can punch in combinations pretty well, and carries his power throughout. And his presence is good – he’s always coming forward and putting that pressure on you.
“He’s a bit slow with his feet, and I don’t think there’s much, necessarily, thought behind what he does – I don’t think he’s a thinking fighter. I think he throws when he feels like it. He’s going to walk forward and try and land big.
“[Opetaia has] punch power. He’s got a really good left hand. His footwork’s good. He’s good at closing the range – the distance – really quickly. Good judge of distance. He uses his southpaw stance really well; really effectively. He’s fast as well. He does a lot of things really, really well.
“[Mairis] Breidis showed late on that he can tire and fade a little bit, but he also gritted it out, so that’s a weakness but he’s got a strength that can negate that. Sometimes he switches off; he can get caught; it’s not like he doesn’t get hit. But [there are] no glaring weaknesses.
“He’s maybe not been in there with big names, but Opetaia’s done what he’s supposed to do with those people – even when he’s been hurt in some of those fights he’s come through and won and that’s what champions do.”
Billam-Smith, who hopes to return to the ring in May, was then asked if Glanton represented a suitable profile of opponent for Opetaia at a time when the cruiserweight division is so strong, and he responded: “If you look at the landscape of cruiserweights at the moment, [Glanton’s] been active. He will have learned plenty out of my fight, and he’s boxed [and won] since – albeit against a blown-up light heavy, but a reputable fighter in Marcus Browne, who’s got plenty of skill and can cause people problems.
“I’d put him as the second best name on Opetaia’s record, after Breidis, because he’s more experienced than all the other guys. David Nyika’s a very skilled fighter, but he’s got a lot more experience than David Nyika, and some of the wins he’s got – there’s some really, really good wins in there. He’s never been stopped. Tough, tough guy. So he’s probably the second best [Opetaia’s] ever boxed.
“He’s not fighting [David] Benavidez and ‘Zurdo’ [Gilberto Ramirez] because they’re fighting each other. [Noel] Mikaelian, I don’t know what’s going on with him. He’s not fighting me. So it’s probably the fifth or sixth best choice, and a lot of the other guys are tied up. It’s a good opponent for his team; he’s American; he might not talk as much as he once did, but he’s a big talker as well.
“[Of my opponents] ‘Zurdo’s’ number one. I’d put Lawrence [Okolie] number two. Probably [Mateusz] Masternak three. [Glanton] was quite one-dimensional and I was nowhere near my best that night. I’d probably say fourth or fifth [best of those I’ve fought].
“I think Opetaia will be too quick; too accurate. I think he’ll hit him plenty to the body with the left hand; slow him down. Then he might take him out late on – really late. But I’d say Opetaia probably beats him really handily on points.”
