News Corp boxing writer Peter Badel has labelled the end to the Nikita Tszyu v Michael Zerafa bout as the most disgraceful thing he\u2019s seen in the sport.<\/p>\n
Badel, who was at the bout on Friday in Brisbane, described Zerafa\u2019s antics as farcical as he was ruled out of the fight at the end of the second round due to a doctor\u2019s stoppage.<\/p>\n
The stoppage came after an accidental head clash in the second round opened a cut above Zerafa\u2019s left eye. He was then asked if he could see out of it, and when he said he couldn\u2019t, the fight was deemed a no-contest.<\/p>\n
While Zerafa gave the doctor that statement, he quickly changed his tune in the post-fight interview, stating he had blurry vision but wasn\u2019t able to fight on. Adding that he was unsure why he was being booed, as it wasn\u2019t his fault, putting the stoppage down purely to the doctor\u2019s call.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve covered boxing for some time now, and it’s probably the most or one of the most disgraceful things I’ve seen in boxing,\u201d Badel told SENQ Breakfast.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really did ruin what was shaping up to be a wonderful card, and there were some great undercard performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was built up for so many years, this sort of family feud that started with Michael and Tim Tszyu, then for it to explode with that second-round stoppage where it was ruled a no-contest\u2026 it was just farcical scenes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve been in a lot of sporting venues, but rarely have I felt that level of animosity and vitriol from the crowd. They were filthy, and there was a really bad vibe in the room, leaving the venue, which was disappointing, because it started out as a great night.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Badel, the issue with the stoppage wasn\u2019t that Zerafa was injured, it was the lie that he clearly told after being caught on vision telling the doctor, \u2018I can\u2019t see\u2019, which was always going to lead to the fight being called off.<\/p>\n
With the antics leaving a bad taste for everyone, Badel thinks that Zerafa\u2019s career as a top Aussie boxer might be done.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the rules, the doctor and the referee did everything right. The minute a fighter says I can’t see, that’s it. You can’t proceed with a bout if a fighter says they can’t see,\u201d Badel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem here is the lie that Michael Zerafa told. If he stuck to his story and said, guys, I can’t see, I told the doctor that, then we wouldn’t be having this drama today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’d all be a bit disappointed, but we’d say, \u2018Zerafa says he can’t see, he’s stuck to his story, how are we to know? We’re not in his shoes\u2019. The lie is the problem here.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is where Michael Zerafa now has major reputational damage. I don’t see how he recovers from it. I don’t think any network will touch him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know No Limit, Australia’s boxing promoters, won’t touch him again, so there’s talk of a rematch, but I’d be very surprised, guys, if that happens.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe he\u2019s done. He may want to fight, and I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if he fights on, but I just don\u2019t know what platform he\u2019ll find himself on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn, who fought Zerafa twice, thinks that the 33-year-old simply might not have wanted to be in the ring anymore.<\/p>\n
That is the exact same feeling he had in his final fight which came against Nikita\u2019s brother, Tim Tszyu.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like he might be going through something in his career that I probably felt like I went through in the Tim Tszyu fight, where you feel like you don’t want to really be in there anymore,\u201d Horn told SEN Breakfast.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we don’t know how bad his eye was and what it felt like, so, it’s hard to condemn the guy completely just from that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t know leading into the fight, against Tim which was my last fight \u2026 I felt like he wanted it more than me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like I wasn’t in there anymore to win, and I was like, this guy wants it more than me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI realised that I don’t have that fire burning anymore, so what\u2019s the point of me going in there?\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"News Corp boxing writer Peter Badel has labelled the end to the Nikita Tszyu v Michael Zerafa bout…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-422416","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\/422416","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=422416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}