Elsewhere on the same card, Michael Zerafa will also look to punch his own way into a huge domestic blockbuster against colourful American Mikey Dahlman \u2013 whose crazy backstory includes jail, being offered rat poison to cut weight, and a highlight reel KO so spectacular it featured on TMZ. <\/p>\n
As first revealed by Fox Sports Australia last month, promoters No Limit initially wanted both Nikita Tszyu and Zerafa to fight in August and, if successful, then square off in a December grudge match.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Yet following Tim Tszyu\u2019s shock title loss against Fundora, there is now a chance Zerafa could go straight into an all-Australian showdown with the former world champion he famously walked away from in 2021.<\/p>\n
Fundora’s post-fight praise to Tszyu | 02:10<\/p>\n
Wonderfully, a Sydney press event will today confirm how all of this will now be decided on an ICC Sydney Theatre card also featuring Brock Jarvis and an Australian super lightweight title fight between Billy Polkinghorn and Ahmad Reda.<\/p>\n
Five months after being stopped by American great Keith Thurman, Jarvis will make his return against undefeated Gold Coast middleweight Sam Beck (7-0).<\/p>\n
Others slated for the card include Australian heavyweight Brandon Grach and Jasmine Parr.<\/p>\n
Yet undeniably, the biggest story of fight week could prove to be America\u2019s Dahlman (18-1).<\/p>\n
While he may be unknown to Australian fight fans, the 33-year-old suddenly emerges as the fighter capable of ruining one of Australian boxing\u2019s greatest grudge matches between Zerafa and the Tszyus.<\/p>\n
Making his professional debut in 2017, the Illinois product found himself immediately headlining on TMZ — courtesy of a vicious right hand that not only iced rival Rick Ogden, but sent him crashing through the ropes and out of the ring.<\/p>\n
“Was he ready?”: Tim forced to ‘rebuild’ | 13:20<\/p>\n
Speaking on a Millions podcast recently, Dahlman revealed that after boxing in high school, and eventually being handpicked for the sport \u201cby the boxing Gods\u201d, he finally decided to turn pro after enduring a second stint in jail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to prison as a juvenile and did almost a year,\u201d the American started, when asked to explain his incredible story.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I got out, was on parole, and two weeks after successfully completing parole, I got caught with a dope case \u2013 totally my fault \u2013 and I went to jail (again).<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in for a little while.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen the day I got out, I was like \u2018you know, I\u2019m gunna go head first with this\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI stopped at the gym after court, after I got out, and ever since have been going so consistently.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it was \u2018man, I gotta do something\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so I put my head down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tszyu sent to hospital after brutal loss | 05:26<\/p>\n
However, it wasn\u2019t exactly the strongest start for a fighter who remembers, for sparring, being put in without headgear and used as \u201cjust a body\u201d by a coach who he refuses to name.<\/p>\n
But the worst of it?<\/p>\n
That would likely be when finding himself a few pounds overweight nearing a fight.<\/p>\n
\u201c(And the coach) said to take some rat poison,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like \u2018bro, what? Hell no\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDude told me to take rat poison.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was \u2018what the hell are you talking about, I\u2019m not taking that s***\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Zerafa is looking to secure his third straight win since being stopped by WBA middleweight champ Erislandy Lara, Dahlman is looking to build on his own run of six straight wins.<\/p>\n
According to his BoxRec resume, the American went undefeated through his first dozen fights in the US.<\/p>\n
After then suffering his first loss in 2022 however, has fought six times since in Columbia.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the American also made headlines for that highlight reel debut, where he knocked his rival out of the ring.<\/p>\n
Asked about said debut recently, he revealed: \u201cMidway through the first round I slapped him through the ropes … had this feeling of like \u2018let\u2019s f***ing goooo\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was something.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike I could\u2019ve grew wings right there and just took off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was an amazing one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tszyu v Fundora 2: Full Fight Highlights | 09:21<\/p>\n
For Nikita Tszyu, meanwhile, his own Macedonian rival has gone undefeated since debuting in 2019.<\/p>\n
Ismaili has won all 12 fights, seven by knockout.<\/p>\n
He is now based out of Germany, and has won five times there.<\/p>\n
While the younger Tszyu sibling is expected to open as a strong betting favourite, there is no doubting question marks hang over the rising star who only returned to training in recent months and hasn\u2019t fought since that epic finish against Koen Mazoudier in August, 2024.<\/p>\n
Due to ongoing complications following hand surgery, the 27-year-old southpaw has already twiced delayed his return to the ring.<\/p>\n
Regardless, The Butcher remains one of the sport\u2019s most exciting prospects and is now ranked at No.11 with the IBF and No.15 with the WBO. <\/p>\n
Ismaili, meanwhile, has not also not fought since defeating Germany\u2019s Florian Wildenhof in July last year.<\/p>\n
Speaking about the August comeback of Nikita Tszyu recently, No Limit CEO George Rose declared: \u201cThe Butcher is back, baby.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t know what you\u2019ve got until it\u2019s gone \u2014 and we\u2019ve all been craving Nikita Tszyu.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s special. He\u2019s unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s must-see TV.<\/p>\n
\u201cNikita\u2019s style, energy and chaos is unlike anything else in the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow he\u2019s healthy, he\u2019s focused, and he\u2019s ready to bring that unmissable, all-action brand of boxing back.<\/p>\n
\u201cNikita Tszyu is not just a fighter\u2026he\u2019s an experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikita Tszyu\u2019s hyped August comeback has taken an unusual twist \u2013 and it\u2019s all thanks to an American…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-28220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}