By Norm Frauenheim
In a shuffle between the only two cruiserweights anybody knows, David Benavidez and Jai Opetaia changed opponents like pawns on a chess board.
Nobody much noticed.
Zuffa announced this week that Noel Mikaelian will fight Opetaia despite reports that Mikaelian’s 94 year-old promoter, Don King, already had an agreement for him to fight Benavidez.
Meanwhile, Benavidez is expected to pursue a date against Micha? Cie?lak instead.
It all happened before anybody knew who Mikaelian and Cieslak were. They’re obscure names, Mikaelian still a champion late Thursday and Cieslak a contender, both in a division sometimes more snoozer than cruiser.
As opponents, they’re almost interchangeable. Mikaelian is 6-foot 3; Cieslak is 6-3. Mikaelian has 28 victories; Cieslak has 28 victories. Mikaelian hasn’t fought since 2025; Cieslak hasn’t fought since 2025
Almost mirror images, they’re still not exactly carbon copies. Of the two, the 35-year-old Mikaelian has a title; the 37-year-old Cieslak does not.
Yet, Mikaelian’s belt, the World Boxing Council’s cruiserweight version, looks to be in jeopardy if the announced deal to fight Opetaia unravels because of a lawsuit.
The expectation is that the WBC will strip him before he meets Opetaia Sept.12 on the Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn undercard at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
In no uncertain terms, the WBC declared Mikaelian would get stripped if he did not face Benavidez, still the WBC’s reigning light-heavyweight champion who also has two of the cruiser belts, both won in a beat down of Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez May 2, also at T-Mobile.
The expected strip figures to be followed by Benavidez- Cieslak for the WBC’s newly vacated belt Dec. 12, perhaps in Glendale AZ, a Phoenix suburb in what would be Benavidez’ first hometown fight in more than four years – a scary stoppage of David Lemieux May 21, 2022.
Expect Opetaia to beat Mikaelian.
Expect Benavidez to beat Cieslak.
In a reasonable business, the next step would be easy to forecast:
Benavidez-versus-Opetaia.
But this is boxing, which is another way of saying nothing is reasonable.
Opetaia-Benavidez is at the cutting edge of Zuffa versus every other governing and promotional entity. While awaiting the U.S. Senate to vote on a revised Muhammad Ali Act, the two sides have been warily looking at each other like predators circling the same water hole.
A fight for dominance looms, although there are voices that say both sides can co-exist, if not work together. But this is a business that sells fights. Almost by definition, peace is not priority.
Already, the seeds of hostility are there from Opetaia, a feared Zuffa fighter who has trash-talked Benavidez. In Zuffa’s announcement this week that Mikaelian will fight him instead of Benavidez, Opetaia couldn’t resist.
“David Benavidez, I’m talking about you, continue to run and hide,” said Opetaia, who already has filed suit in Nevada against the International Boxing Federation for stripping him of its cruiserweight belt.
Just another pawn?
Or an opening salvo?