{"id":418915,"date":"2026-01-17T10:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T10:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/418915\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T10:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T10:49:19","slug":"michael-zerafa-accused-of-cowardly-act-by-tim-tszyu-after-no-contest-against-nikita-tszyu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/418915\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Zerafa accused of \u2018cowardly act\u2019 by Tim Tszyu after no contest against Nikita Tszyu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ironically, Tim Tszyu could have informed the ringside referee in Las Vegas that he was unable to see, resulting in a no contest, and potentially saving him from further punishment and an eventual loss that has negatively impacted his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t understand the cowardly act … he [Zerafa] said \u2018I can\u2019t see, I can\u2019t see\u2019 like three times [to the ringside doctor] and I feel like that type of answer shouldn\u2019t come out of a boxer. I just don\u2019t,\u201d Tim Tszyu said.<\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

Michael Zerafa (left) and Nikita Tszyu clash in Brisbane.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Zerafa apologised to the crowd and said he was ready for a rematch, but Nikita Tszyu was unimpressed by his actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe pulled the pin on the fight. I\u2019m honestly lost for words,\u201d Nikita Tszyu told Kayo Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s annoying that he saw the opening to escape and just took the first route out.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, yeah, it\u2019s a cut, yeah it\u2019s on the eye, but didn\u2019t he really want this fight? He\u2019s been calling for it so long. He took the first exit. As soon as the head clash happened, I could see him panicking a little bit.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Michael Zerafa told the doctor he couldn\u2019t see out of his left eye, but later retracted that statement.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wasn\u2019t happy with it, but it\u2019s boxing, you get cuts. Look at my brother [Tim], he had a bloody squirter [against Fundora].\u201d<\/p>\n

In a post on social media, Zerafa expressed his disappointment at how the fight ended, doubling down on his claim that he was not asked whether he could continue, despite referee Condon explaining to him it would be declared a no contest.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s difficult to accept is that at no point was I asked whether I could continue, nor was I given the opportunity to try,\u201d Zerafa wrote. \u201cWhen you prepare for months, put your body on the line and make the sacrifices required at this level, having that decision taken completely out of your hands is incredibly frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

After being asked in the post-fight press conference whether there was a potential to withhold Zerafa\u2019s payment for his actions, promoter George Rose of No Limit Boxing said they intended to fulfil the contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always live up to our contractual obligations, we\u2019ll do the right thing regardless, we do what the contract says\u201d Rose said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ironically, Tim Tszyu could have informed the ringside referee in Las Vegas that he was unable to see,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-418915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418915","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=418915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}