under Eddie Hearn\u2019s Matchroom Boxing banner<\/a>, the controversial Melbourne middleweight delivered exactly what was required on Wednesday night, taking care of the dangerous Venezuelan and ensuring there would be no upset.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
And now things could get interesting.<\/p>\n
Because with Zerafa ranked No.5 by the WBO and No.6 by the WBA, the 34-year-old suddenly finds himself within distance of another major fight.<\/p>\n
That could mean another world title opportunity.<\/p>\n
It could mean British superstar Chris Eubank Jr. It could mean a fight with former world champ Tony Harrison.<\/p>\n
Or, perhaps another crack at Nikita Tszyu. A lot of doors have opened.<\/p>\n
Zerafa wasn\u2019t happy with his performance, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cAh look, it was terrible. I\u2019m not going to sugar-coat it,\u201d Zerafa said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a tough, awkward fighter. It was good to get the eight rounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to thank Eddie Hearn and the team at Matchroom for the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a clean slate. I know I let a lot of people down and I apologise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are Aussies and we need to stick together.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the bottom of my heart, I am sorry. Things happen and this is the start of something great.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘A new chapter!’: Zerafa scores TKO | 01:01<\/p>\n
Zerafa had made no secret ahead of the fight of just how much was riding on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I can\u2019t beat these guys, world title fights are out of the question,\u201d Zerafa told Fox Sports Australia.<\/p>\n
And against Ortiz, he did what was needed.<\/p>\n
\u2018Pretty Boy\u2019 dominated the early rounds behind his jab and superior activity before Ortiz finally came alive in the sixth, landing some heavy shots of his own.<\/p>\n
Zerafa weathered the storm before turning the screws, dropping Ortiz late in the eighth with a thumping shot. <\/p>\n
The Venezuelan managed to make it back to his feet and survive to the bell, but his night was over moments later.<\/p>\n
The referee waved off the fight between rounds, handing Zerafa an impressive stoppage victory.<\/p>\n
The win is a fresh start for Zerafa after his previous appearance against the younger Tszyu ended in bizarre fashion and was eventually ruled a no contest.<\/p>\n
Hearn has suggested Zerafa-Tszyu II could become one of the biggest fights in Australian boxing, while Zerafa has also been linked with a blockbuster showdown against Eubank Jr.<\/p>\n
Asked after the fight by Ben Damon who he wants next, Zerafa said he wasn\u2019t fussy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Zerafa has launched his latest world title charge in style, scoring a TKO victory over Alejandro Ortiz…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-855471","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\/855471","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=855471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}