have questioned Zerafa\u2019s failure to turn up in some big fights<\/a>, Tszyu has also now given his own take.<\/p>\nIn fact, The Butcher says Zerafa\u2019s most notable defeats — against Erislandy Lara, Kell Brook, even the Jeff Horn rematch — all trace back to him suffering a brutal KO loss against American Peter Quillin in 2015.<\/p>\n
In a fight that doubled as Zerafa\u2019s American debut, the then rising Aussie prospect was stopped for the first time by a massive roundhouse right in the fifth.<\/p>\n
In concerning scenes, the Melburnian was initially knocked out by the punch, with his head cradled in the hands of referee Arthur Mercante Jr, before he was then eventually assisted out of the ring on a stretcher.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think that could\u2019ve been the first time he was really broken,\u201d Tszyu said when recounting the moment this week.<\/p>\n
Michael Zerafa was stretchered out of the ring in 2015.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
The youngest fighting son of Kostya Tszyu added Zerafa has almost certainly carried the memory of that night against Quillin into his biggest fights since — including his KO loss against WBA champ Lara.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Which is why] Michael struggles when put into uncomfortable situations,\u201d Tszyu continued. <\/p>\n
\u201cLook at Erislandy Lara, who made him uncomfortable early in their fight. And by simply taking away a few of his tools.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat moment got the better of him — and he broke mentally.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s why I see vulnerabilities there.\u201d<\/p>\n
So Zerafa\u2019s will can be broken in fights?<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, for sure,\u201d The Butcher continued. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen it broken already.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s why now if you put him into that mindset again, he can\u2019t escape it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how trauma works.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get taken back to those previous situations.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgainst Lara, it was a relapse.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you could see it didn\u2019t take much for his spirit to be broken.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erislandy Lara vs Michael Zerafa. Picture: PBCSource: Supplied<\/p>\n
Asked specifically about Zerafa now relapsing against him, Tszyu continued: \u201cThink about the pressure that comes with potentially losing to a guy like me, who only boasts a handful of fights.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd think about that happening on the biggest stage. And in front of so many people, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlus, Michael\u2019s entire life has also been leading to this. Everything he\u2019s always talked about wanting, it\u2019s now here.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Laughs] Although he wanted Tim, and he\u2019s got me instead.<\/p>\n
\u201cStill, there is at a lot at stake for him here. He\u2019s been holding onto this feud for a lot longer than I have.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the best part of six years this moment has been on his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Importantly, Tszyu also has no doubt about the challenge Zerafa presents.<\/p>\n
For a start, the 27-year-old stresses he has never fought anyone near the calibre of Pretty Boy in his undefeated run of 11 straight wins.<\/p>\n
Tszyu also suggested, given his rival\u2019s experience, big fight history, and time spent ranked in a higher weight division, he absolutely deserves to enter this fight as the betting favourite.<\/p>\n
There is also no doubting Zerafa\u2019s incredible talent and punching power.<\/p>\n
Same as he has continually chased the biggest fights, and opponents, available to him. <\/p>\n
Yet while Zerafa also boasts a host of big domestic scalps \u2013 including Horn, Isaac Hardman, even an ageing Anthony Mundine \u2013 he has also dropped those biggest international fights against Lara, Quillin and Englishman Brook.<\/p>\n
Tszyu vs Zerafa INTENSE staredown | 02:25<\/p>\n
\u201cSo these biggest moments Michael likes to claim for himself,\u201d Tszyu continued, \u201cthey\u2019re all defeats.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, he had the win over Jeff Horn.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut in trying to show you where he\u2019s got to in his career, it also shows he didn\u2019t actually get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Tszyu is under no illusion about the size of the task ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, the public is divided on who wins this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the underdog, as I should be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had eleven fights.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd while I haven\u2019t fought nobodies, I haven\u2019t fought world title challengers, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo of course, I should be the underdog against him.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it also means this is my chance to convince everyone that I am right. It was similar in my fight against Dylan Biggs, where we were split 50\/50.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a big moment for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this is another one.<\/p>\n
\u201cA win in this fight takes me to that next level.\u201d<\/p>\n
While a huge fan of both Tszyu boys, Fenech said this week he was picking Zerafa to win \u2013 but with a caveat<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cIf we\u2019re going on boxing ability \u2013 Michael Zerafa,\u201d Fenech said. \u201cThat\u2019s my pick.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it also depends on the real Michael showing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause that\u2019s the scary thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe greatest Michael Zerafa I\u2019ve seen hasn\u2019t turned up a lot of times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Top 5 brutal Nikita Tszyu knockouts! | 15:51<\/p>\n
Asked at Tuesday\u2019s workout about how he sees the fight going, Malignaggi started: \u201cThere comes a point in your career when the emotion hits a little differently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Nikita, every new experience has him taking in the atmosphere \u2014 you\u2019re moving up the ladder, and taking in the energy of your new accomplishments.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this is big opportunity for him in that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut with Zerafa, he\u2019s been through these kind of things and I want to see if he still has that game face. Or if he\u2019s just acting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re at a certain point in your career, you may want to still hang around but on fight night you find out if you really do or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo with Zerafa, my curiosity is with, he\u2019s been quality throughout his career \u2013 obviously he\u2019s been quality \u2013 but does he have it within him to go deep, where Nikita may take him?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou talk about the inexperience of Nikita Tszyu. But one thing he has is a lot of energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn older fighter sometimes feels they can\u2019t match that, so [Zerafa] may have to offset it with craftiness, and the veteran craftsmanship that he does have.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019ll see which Mike Zerafa shows up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been saying, it\u2019s like a split personality. Sometimes on big nights it looks like he forgot how to fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther times he shows up \u2026 and that\u2019s the Mike Zerafa I hope we get to see this week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Immediately after the Quillin loss, ESPN reported that Zerafa had been taken to hospital Stateside for observation, but had also then later contacted his American rival by phone to confirm he was feeling fine and resting comfortably.<\/p>\n
In response, Quillin said: \u201cI can\u2019t say I made a statement with this win because that wouldn\u2019t be right after a guy gets taken out of the ring on a stretcher.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was game, but boxing is a dangerous job. I don\u2019t want to hurt people. I pray for both myself and my opponent during a fight, and I want everyone to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nikita Tszyu says Michael Zerafa has never recovered from the \u201ctrauma\u201d of being stretchered from a US boxing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-407257","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\/407257","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=407257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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