{"id":800832,"date":"2026-07-15T01:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/800832\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T01:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T01:16:11","slug":"michael-zerafa-faces-knockout-artist-alejandro-ortiz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/800832\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Zerafa Faces Knockout Artist Alejandro Ortiz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Ranked #4 by the WBO and #6 by the WBA, Zerafa (34-5, 22 KOs) views the bout as the first step toward another world title opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery opponent deserves respect, and Alejandro has earned his reputation. I\u2019m not taking anything for granted,\u201d Zerafa said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a strong camp, and I\u2019m excited to get back in the ring and do what I do best.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m incredibly grateful to Eddie Hearn, Frank Smith and the Matchroom team for believing in me. I\u2019m determined to make the most of this opportunity. We have a great path to a world title, and it all starts on August 12.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ortiz (26-1, 25 KOs) brings an eye-catching knockout ratio into the fight, with 25 stoppages in his 26 victories. The Venezuelan wasted few words when asked about the assignment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMichael Zerafa. I\u2019m coming for you,\u201d said Ortiz.<\/p>\n<p>Promoter Eddie Hearn believes the matchup is exactly what Zerafa needs to re-establish himself among the leading middleweights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bad boy of Australian boxing is back,\u201d Hearn said. \u201cI know that some people love to hate him. But the reality is that he is going to put bums on seats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cZerafa has got to prove himself a little bit. But he is without doubt one of Australia\u2019s biggest stars, and this is exactly the type of fight we wanted for his Matchroom Boxing debut.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlejandro Ortiz is young, dangerous, explosive and he is coming to win. These are the fights fans love, and we\u2019re expecting an absolute war on the Gold Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If Zerafa gets through Ortiz, he will strengthen his position near the top of the WBO and WBA rankings as he pursues another shot at a middleweight world championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ranked #4 by the WBO and #6 by the WBA, Zerafa (34-5, 22 KOs) views the bout as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-800832","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\/800832","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=800832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}