The bout was labelled “Bad Blood” but Michael Zerafa wilted at the first sign of it as boos and bottles rained down from a furious crowd when the ringside doctor stopped his hugely anticipated main event with Nikita Tszyu after a second round head clash drew a bad cut.
Zerafa appeared to tell the ringside doctor his vision was impaired after a cut appeared over his left eye.
It dripped blood during the round, but was cleaned up in between rounds.
The doctor inspected the cut, and was forced to advise referee Chris Condon to stop the bout before the third round, with the pay per view fight ruled a no contest.
“He didn’t want to be the bad guy, but he is the bad guy for life now,” said commentator Ben Damon, while American commentator Shawn Porter suggested Zerafa knew what he was doing.
“I think he just knows this is a no contest,” said Porter.
“Get a cheque now, get a cheque later.
“I thought for promoters if you quit you don’t get paid.”
Despite telling the ringside doctor he couldn’t see, Zerafa attempted to walk it back, but was nearly drowned out by the Brisbane crowd.
“I don’t know why everyone’s booing me,” he said. “The doctor stopped it. It’s not my fault.
“I said it’s blurry but I said all good let’s go. I’m ready to go. If we want to do it again, let’s run it back.
“It’s good, it was blurry, it is what it is. It’s boxing, no disrespect, I don’t know why everyone’s booing
“I want to apologise to everybody.
“I don’t know why you’re booing. This is the sport, I apologise. I’m sorry.
“I said it’s blurry, but not enough to stop the fight.”
In the moments after the ring was stopped, a frustrated Tszyu told Zerafa he could see, and that there wasn’t any blood on his eye.
“I’m being told that Michael said he couldn’t see,” Tszyu said. “That’s what I’ve been told.
“It’s what the doctor said. The fight was getting good. Sorry to everyone who came out and expected a 10 round war. Sorry.”
Asked whether he thought Zerafa could have continued, Zerafa just smirked as the crowd erupted.
“I dunno,” he said.
“There was six months of work, it sucks. What can you do?”
Zerafa was escorted out of the ring by security as angry punters hurled abuse at him.
The bout was shaping up to be a cracker before the underwhelming ending.
Zerafa landed an early one-two, and followed up with a nice right hand, forcing Tszyu to counter inside.
Zerafa went down, his glove touching the canvas, but it was ruled a slip by referee Chris Condon as ‘The Pretty Boy’ made a good start.
Tszyu tried to make it a war in the second, and a head clash opened a nasty cut over Zerafa’s left eye, immediately drawing blood.