Everything you need to know<\/a><\/p>\n“I picture him hurting my family…” | 03:53<\/p>\n
Other fighters to appear however included two-time world title challenger Liam Wilson and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, who is set to make his hyped professional boxing debut after walking out on Melbourne Storm.<\/p>\n
Speaking with Main Event at the open workouts, former world champion Malignaggi questioned if Zerafa has the mentality required to win his showdown against the youngest of the Tszyu brothers.<\/p>\n
Having jetted into Brisbane on Monday to work as an analyst for this week\u2019s show, Malignaggi also hailed the enthusiasm of Tszyu and questioned if his older rival would be able to match that in the ring.<\/p>\n
Asked about how he sees the fight going, Malignaggi started: \u201cThere comes a point in your career when the emotion hits a little differently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Nikita, every new experience has him taking in the atmosphere \u2014 you\u2019re moving up the ladder, and taking in the energy of your new accomplishments.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this is big opportunity for him in that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut with Zerafa, he\u2019s been through these kind of things and I want to see if he still has that game face. Or if he\u2019s just acting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re at a certain point in your career, you may want to still hang around but on fight night you find out if you really do or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo with Zerafa, my curiosity is with, he\u2019s been quality throughout his career \u2013 obviously he\u2019s been quality \u2013 but does he have it within him to go deep, where Nikita may take him?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou talk about the inexperience of Nikita Tszyu. But one thing he has is a lot of energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn older fighter sometimes feels they can\u2019t match that, so [Zerafa] may have to offset it with craftiness, and the veteran craftmanship that he does have.<\/p>\n
Former world champion Paulie Malignaggi.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019ll see which Mike Zerafa shows up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been saying, it\u2019s like a split personality. Sometimes on big nights it looks like he forgot how to fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther times he shows up \u2026 and that\u2019s the Mike Zerafa I hope we get to see this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Certainly, the early money is now going with Tszyu.<\/p>\n
While Sportsbet currently has both fighters split at $1.96 each, Caine suggested three times more money is going with \u2018The Butcher\u2019 \u2013 with a Tszyu KO ($3.30) and Tszyu first round KO ($46) also being favoured.<\/p>\n
It means that while Australia\u2019s youngest fighting Tszyu has spent much of this week suggesting Zerafa should be the bookmaker\u2019s favourite, the fans are instead throwing their money at him.<\/p>\n
Adding to the intrigue, Australian fight greats Jeff Fenech and Billy Dib are both backing Zerafa, while Australian national champ Koen Mazoudier is also tipping \u2018Pretty Boy\u2019 by KO.<\/p>\n
Australian boxing great Shawn Porter, who is also working the Main Event broadcast, said he was tipping Zerafa in a 50\/50 fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut right now, we\u2019ve got three times more money coming for Tszyu,\u201d Caine said.<\/p>\n
Top 5 brutal Nikita Tszyu knockouts! | 15:51<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to the markets for a finish, Tszyu by KO\/TKO is also twice as popular as any other option, while in round betting the most popular outcome is Nikita Tszyu winning in the first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Should Tszyu win against Zerafa, there is already talk of the 27-year-old making his US debut later this year.<\/p>\n
The unbeaten prospect is ranked at No.6 in the IBF super welterweight division.<\/p>\n
Later, Malignaggi continued of what a win in this fight could mean for the profiles of each man, Stateside: \u201cListen, Zerafa on US soil isn\u2019t rated very highly.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause when he\u2019s been on US soil he hasn\u2019t performed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as far as Nikita is concerned on US soil, there isn\u2019t a lot known of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the Tszyu last name, Kostya\u2019s name resonates more.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey know a little bit about Tim because he\u2019s performed there but Nikita is still an unknown entity.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if someone really comes through this fight in spectacular fashion, makes a statement, it will reverberate on US shores as well and create a lot of curiosity.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo both of these guys have that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
N. Tszyu vs Zerafa | Friday 16 Jan from 7pm AEDT | The trash talk and bitterness come to a head when Nikita Tszyu steps into the ring to face Michael Zerafa in one of the most anticipated fights in Australian boxing history. | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\nBig NAS embraces the pressure on debut! | 04:16<\/p>\n
Asked for a prediction, Porter said of Zerafa: \u201cIf he\u2019s active, maintains his distance and range, I think he wins this week\u201d.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, CJ Mundine has been forced off his undercard bout after suffering what his team has described as a grade one calf tear while running.<\/p>\n
The young prospect had attended Monday night\u2019s grand arrivals event for what was supposed to be his first showing with promoters No Limit, and had even a face-off with Matthews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikita Tszyu is the subject of an early betting plunge in what is being hailed as Australia\u2019s greatest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2095,43476,64,63,689,2802,2763,216877,216880,153357,651,216878,3697,216888,216884,216882,216887,27662,216879,28364,4466,11850,216883,2782,11876,43766,2041,2067,677,216886,701,14444,216885,29634,85,11872,106313,2614,2753,216881],"class_list":["post-409551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-america","tag-anthony-mundine","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-boxing","tag-australian-boxing-history","tag-australian-fight-greats","tag-betting-option","tag-betting-plunge","tag-brisbane","tag-champs-spill","tag-fight-fans","tag-fight-finishes","tag-game-face","tag-grand-arrivals-event","tag-hyped-professional-boxing","tag-jeff-fenech","tag-joel-cain","tag-limit-boxing","tag-melbourne-storm","tag-michael-zerafa","tag-morning-fight","tag-nick-walshaw","tag-nikita-tszyu","tag-no-limit","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-open-workouts","tag-queensland","tag-question-mark","tag-rahim","tag-sparring-session","tag-sports","tag-super-welterweight-division","tag-trash-talk","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-world-champion","tag-world-title-challenger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409551","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=409551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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