That's according to former two-weight world champion Andre Ward, who broke down both fighters' possible routes to victory.

“It’s a pick 'em fight,” Ward told All The Smoke Fight. “It’s a great fight for the cruiserweight division.

“It takes a lot of skill to slow down an offensive guy like David Benavidez,” Ward said. “It’s not just skill, but it's toughness too. He’s only going to respect you hitting him. You’re going to have to get your respect at a certain point in time. But you also can’t get dragged into throwing 100 punches a round because that’s not your game but you have to do enough to let him know that you’re here.

“I think for Jai, he has to find a healthy balance. He has good legs, he has to understand where to be, when to be there, what angles to take, but then also instinctively know when to stand and rumble for 10, 15, 20 seconds and give David what he likes. Then go back to what he does.”

Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs), the WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion, watched on as a fan as Opetaia stopped Noel Mikaelian in the ninth round of their September 12 clash at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, defending his Ring title in the process.

After the fight, the pair met face to face, promising to fight each other in May 2027.

Although there are several things Opetaia (31-0, 24 KOs) needs to do in order to get the victory, the advice Ward had for Benavidez was much more straightforward.

“He just needs to continue being David Benavidez,” Ward continued. “He can box when he wants to, but he has that certain drive in him. Like he can box, but he really wants to let both his hands go.

"That’s where he feels the most comfortable and none of these guys can deal with it. You’re dealing with a guy who's physically strong, tough, and he’s got a high work rate.”