Michael Zerafa has threatened to walk away from boxing for good after he was booed out of Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Friday night following a controversial no contest decision in his bout with fellow Aussie Nikita Tszyu.
Team Tszyu and livid, can-throwing fans condemned Zerafa for ‘cowardly’ forcing officials to stop short Australian boxing’s biggest grudge match this century.
Zerafa was booed out of ring after his much-hyped showdown with unbeaten emerging superstar Nikita Tszyu was stopped before the third round on Friday night.
The bout was abruptly declared a ‘no decision’ when Zerafa repeatedly told the ringside doctor, ‘I can’t see, I can’t see’ following a series of head clashes between the two combatants during the frenetic first two rounds.
Officials told the jeering crowd the fight was stopped because of an ‘accidental head butt’.
Zerafa was captured on TV saying he couldn’t see out of his left eye before changing his story during a post-fight in-the-ring interview and insisting ‘it’s blurry, but all good. Let’s go.’
Michael Zerafa insisted he wanted to fight on, despite mics picking up him saying ‘I can’t see’ three times before the match was declared a no contest
Tim Tszyu, older brother of Nikita, was left fuming at the decision and confronted Zerafa in the ring
‘I don’t know why everyone’s booing me. I didn’t stop it, the doctor stopped it. It’s not my fault,’ he said.
In a messy aftermath, as spectators hurled cans at Zerafa, Tszyu’s former world championship-winning brother Tim confronted Zerafa in the ring.
He mocked Zerafa as a ‘pussy’, reminding the Melburnian how he himself fought on blindly for 10 rounds with a gruesome cut to his head during a 12-round war with Sebastian Fundora in Las Vegas in 2024.
Following the bout, Zerafa went on a wild, eight-minute rant backstage and has threatened to walk away from the sport for good.
‘I don’t know if they’re going to see me back in the ring, man,’ he said.
‘I’m f***ing done.
‘I’ve bled for this sport. I’ve done everything for this sport. I never get the credit I deserve. It’s bulls**t.
‘I feel sorry for Nikita and the fight fans. Myself. Everybody.
Zerafa had come into the match with plenty to prove but only lasted two rounds in the ring against the younger Tszyu brother
Referee Chris Condon was left with little choice but to stop the match and award the no decision result
‘First it was the bulls*** that I didn’t rock up, wave it off, New South Wales doctor. I don’t know. I’m not saying anyone is behind it.’
When asked if he could understand why the Brisbane crowd was so furious, Zerafa continued to assert his innocence.
‘I never quit,’ Zerafa maintained.
‘That’s why I apologised out there. Even Nikita said ‘yeah, it’s a cut’.
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘… I had to get escorted out of here. It’s bulls***, man. I’m over this s***.’
His opponent, though, was not buying Zerafa’s excuses.
‘He pulled the pin on the fight. I’m honestly lost for words,’ Nikita Tszyu said after being denied the chance to finally put the Melbourne motor mouth in his place.
Tszyu brought up his own bloodied bout against Sebastian Fundora where he lasted 12 rounds
The cut on the head that Tim Tszyu was spilling blood from during the Fundora bout
‘It’s annoying that he saw the opening to escape and just took the first route out.
‘Like, yeah, it’s a cut on the eye, but … as soon as the the head clash happened, I could see him panicking a little bit.
‘He wasn’t happy with it but it’s boxing. You get cuts. Look at my brother, he had a bloody squirter [against Sebastian Fundora].’
Tszyu, bidding to finally settle a long-running score, looked on the path to a dominant victory following a spicy and bitter build-up to the domestic blockbuster.
The Tszyu family has made no secret of their lack of respect for Zerafa ever since the Melbourne motor mouth was a late withdrawal from a scheduled showdown with Nikita’s older and now world championship-winning brother Tim during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Older brother Tim stormed the ring after the decision and refused to shake Zerafa’s hand, calling him a p***y and a b***h in several wild tirades.
‘I’m not shaking your hand,’ Tim said.
‘I can’t see, I can’t see. I went 12 rounds [while bloodied against Fundora]. I can’t see.
Zerafa emphatically claims he did nothing wrong and has threatened to walk away from the sport forever
Speaking with media after the bout, Tszyu doubled down on Zerafa’s ‘cowardly’ act and brought up his own issues with the Aussie fighter from five years ago.
“I just don’t understand the cowardly act. I heard the doctor went like that [holds hand up to eye] and he went ‘I can’t see, I can’t see’ three times,” he said.
“I feel like that type of answer shouldn’t come out of a boxer… when you get hit and you know how he said I don’t want to do this anymore, it’s exactly what he went through.
“He felt a little bit of adversity and instead of rising up to the occasion he just said, ‘Nah, I can’t see’. It’s bizarre. It’s really bizarre. I’m very surprised. It just proves the whole thing about him not rocking up to fight me.
“That’s the truth. He pulled out one week before my fight and I stayed staunch about, ‘No. I’m not going to give him the opportunity. I’m not going to give him the opportunity’.”
Tszyu doesn’t believe he will get a rematch against Nikita either.
‘I don’t believe Zerafa deserves the chance to fight Nikita again,’ he said.
Nikita said as much as the family’s long-running manager Glen Jennings was ‘pissed’ about Friday night’s events, his family were downright livid.
‘Glen was obviously pissed off because Zerafa’s been a pain in his arsehole for a very long time and, yeah, for it to end like this,’ he said.
‘My brother came in full of so much anger. He was just like, ‘You pussy’.’
No Limit Boxing boss George Rose apologised to the packed crowd at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre and appeared a man lost for patience when asked if Zerafa would get a rematch with Tszyu.
‘Ask me this question? Oh, look,’ Rose said.
‘We’ll talk about it tomorrow.’
