Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\nZerafa and Tszyu met in Sydney on Wednesday for the official press conference, where \u2018Pretty Boy\u2019 revealed just how focused he is on winning the long-simmering grudge match.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll tell you how much I want this fight,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761200708_112_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve cancelled my wedding for this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 30: Michael Zerafa prepares for his title fight against WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara at T-Mobile Arena on March 30, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fundora won Tszyu’s title and a vacant WBC title by split decision. (Photo by Steve Marcus\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
When asked how his fiancee took the change of plans, Zerafa told Fox Sports Australia that it went down about as well as you\u2019d imagine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI must admit that I slept on the couch for a few days – and dinner was cold,\u201d he smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we got through – and all good.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it\u2019s just another day – I mean we live together, we\u2019ve been engaged for three years – but for her, she\u2019s dreamed of it since she was a kid.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot not only that, but her family is overseas, so it was a bit more meaningful. I was going to go over there and meet them.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow the first official impression of me is that I\u2019ve done a no-show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zerafa says that the couple hasn\u2019t rescheduled their big day as yet and will \u201cplay it by ear\u201d over the summer.<\/p>\n
One thing he is pretty confident about however is the advantage he has over Tszyu.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe I win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe I am the more experienced fighter, I\u2019ve been in there with bigger names and I\u2019ve beaten bigger names, but there\u2019s no pressure on me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tszyu pointed out that Zerafa has struggled with southpaws in the past, highlighting Zerafa\u2019s loss to slick Cuban fighter Erislandy Lara.<\/p>\n
Zerafa waved away these concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, a southpaw like Lara, but a southpaw like him\u2026 he\u2019s got two left feet. He just relies on his punching power,\u201d said Zerafa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, I respect everyone I get in the ring with, but everyone talks about his power. I\u2019ve got power too. I\u2019ve got speed. I\u2019ve got great counter ability. I\u2019ve got fast footwork.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zerafa added that he\u2019s planning a thorough training camp ahead of the bout.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m lucky, I\u2019ve got it all in my own gym,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got southpaws there. I\u2019ve got my cousin Kris Terzievski who is a professional and a southpaw too. He\u2019s much bigger, he\u2019s a bridgerweight. We will do heaps of drills together – light rounds, stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Melbourne-based middleweight says he\u2019s not spending much time worrying about losing the bout because the pressure is all on his rival.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I lose\u2026 what am I going to get differently than I cop now?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m already getting hammered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zerafa and Tszyu traded barbs during the press conference, with Zerafa referencing brother Tim Tszyu\u2019s world title defeats to Sebastian Fundora and Bakhram Murtazaliev.<\/p>\n
Zerafa and Tszyu trade heated words | 04:05<\/p>\n
\u201cTim fell short,\u201d Zerafa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot many people get two chances at saving the last name but he gets one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tszyu returned serve, saying he doesn\u2019t see this fight as about saving his family\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going in here to really rise to the occasion to get on to that world stage properly,\u201d Tszyu said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo beat someone that\u2019s had a lot of experience, to really make a name for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s boxing bad boy Michael Zerafa has revealed that he is so serious about his grudge match with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-249628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}