Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao is leading the way for fresh fighters to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2025.

Ballots have been mailed to voters around the world, and the candidates will be announced in December in advance of the annual introductory weekend held June 5-8 in Canastota and the nearby Turning Stone Casino in upstate Modern York.

In addition to Pacquiao, the names of Shawn Porter, Lucian Bute and Mikey Garcia were added to the list in the Current category.

In the women’s category, Mexican Yessica Chavez and Canadian Jessica Rakoczy appear on the ballot for the first time, and in the “delayed era” senior ballot, Italian Bruno Arcari, a junior welterweight with a record of 70-2-1 (38 K0) and former junior, was added flyweight champion Luis Estaba from Venezuela.

The women’s trailblazers list included undefeated bantamweight Shirley Tucker, 16-0 (10 KOs), and English fighter Owen Swift was on the trailblazer ballot.

As non-participants, there is now a chance that veteran trainer/executioner Russ Anber will have his plaque on the museum wall, as well as referee Kenny Bayless and Italian promoter Salvatore Cherchi, while among the observer ranks is Argentine journalist Ernesto Cherquis Bialo joined in the paper Randy Gordon and Kevin Iole.

Chris Billiam-Smith says IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia is not the next Oleksandr Usyk as some fans claimed. He says he never created any hype for Australia’s Opetai (25-0, 19 KO) and felt that “humanized” in his last fight against 39-year-old Mairis Briedis.

It is unclear who claimed Opetaia was the next Usyk, as the Australian rival was extremely delicate until he fought the aging Briedis. The opponent Opetaia faced were lower-level guys like Elias Zorro, Mark Flanagan, and Jordan Thompson.

Usyk on another level

Casual fans might have naively called Opetaia the next Usyk, but fans familiar with the sport saw him as a product of supple matchmaking. He fought bad opponents throughout his nine-year career. Usyk is the gold standard of what a cruiserweight should be, and Opetaia is far from it. It is a more coppery variety.

There is no comparison between Oleksandr Usyk’s talent when he fought in the cruiserweight division and Opertai’s talent. Usyk could do it all, showing incredible skills and beating a quality opponent. In contrast, Opetaia has only fought one good opponent in his entire career, and that was an older version of Briedis.

The first fight between the two made Opetaia look better than it actually was, as Briedis was returning after a long break. In the second fight last May, Briedis exposed Opetaia, putting him under constant pressure and showing he was not good at absorbing punishment.

Opetaia looked scared, dealing with the pressure, getting hurt on its beak, and facing Briedis’ withering fire. The fight showed that Opetaia is not built for combat combat and prefers to stay on the outside taking shots.

In the Riyad rematch, Opetaia looked like a bigger version of Shakur Stevenson against Briedis and it was a real eye opener.

Opetaia will defend his IBF cruiserweight title against recently defeated Jack Massey (22-2, 12 KO) in Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol on October 12 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyad, Saudi Arabia.

This is another example of Opetai fighting an underdog instead of a talented cruiserweight. Surprisingly, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh did not insist that Opetaia fight someone talented for him to appear at the October 12 event.

“He is extremely talented, Opetaia. It does a lot of things really well. He’s got quick hands, good feet, good shot selection and can hit,” said Chris Billiam-Smith. Second exit about IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetai.

“I think people say he’s like the next Usyk, which I don’t agree with. I think Usyk is a much, much better fighter than Opetaia,” Billiam-Smith said. “I think Briedis had a long break before the first fight [with Opetaia] and had a long layoff before his second fight near the end of his career, but he showed glimpses of what he was capable of.

Opetaia is just a one-dimensional pony who only throws potshots and doesn’t like to take difficult shots in her fights. Let me repeat: he has only fought one notable fighter in his entire career, Briedis, and in their second fight he did not look good.

By now, Opetaia should have fought the following cruiserweights:

– Chris Billiam-Smith
– Richard Riakporhe
– Lawrence’s setting
– Isaac Chamberlain
– Gilberto Ramirez
– Noel Mikaelyan

“I think hObadiah is humanized when it comes to hype. For me, I see fighters for who they are. I think Opetaia is a fantastic player, but I never believed he was unbeatable,” said Billiam-Smith.

Years ago, it was obvious that Opetaia was facing marginal opposition, and it was surprising that it was only now, in his slow thirties, that his managers finally briefly pitted him against quality opposition against Briedis. However, now they are bringing him back to the same destitute matchmaking by putting him face to face with Massey.

“He is a fantastic champion; Briedis was a good player, but he had a bit of an edge,” Billiam-Smith said. He knew it and that’s why he retired. He probably didn’t have the same thing in him. He fought many difficult fights. He had two Super Series back to back.

“Of course he lost to Usyk in the first one and won in the second one [against Yuniel Dorticos]. He had some tough fights during that time and he boxed everyone over the years, and that will wear you down.

“I was at his training camps and I think he overdid it. He had three sparring sessions a week, at one point 15 rounds. You won’t get the best rounds in these 15 rounds. He just kept going through it,” Billiam-Smith said of Briedis.

ZHILEI ZHANG wouldn’t be interested in how he could beat Daniel Dubois if they ever met, but the Chinese heavyweight fighter in a recent interview with .

Zhang’s career took a downturn in March, losing on points to Joseph Parker, but three months later she returned to winning ways with an emphatic fifth-round victory over Deontay Wilder.

The 41-year-old, who has an 81% knockout rate in 30 fights, has joined the ranks of rivals eager to face Dubois, who annihilated Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium last month.

Dubois, who has losses to Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk, is now the IBF heavyweight champion and is in the form of his life. Zhang was impressed by Daniel’s “Dynamte” and explained exactly why.

“People think he’s giving up, but I never see him as giving up,” he said.

“In his fight before Usyk (against Kevin Lerena), everyone said he had a knee injury, his knee was bothering him. This is what I see that people don’t see. He’s a very shrewd boxer and a very shrewd person. He knows how to protect himself so that he can come back.

“So when [his] broken eye socket (contrary to Joyce), in such a condition he applied the rule. He knelt down to protect himself against a better return. It’s a very shrewd move, it’s clever and everyone sees what happened. He’s back. Three fights in a row and he was at the top of the mountain.

“I’m very impressed with his mentality and the way he approaches things, but at the same time he’s confident, he’s hungry, he’s newborn – I think he’s basically a great player.”