{"id":74732,"date":"2025-08-18T05:12:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T05:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/74732\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T05:12:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T05:12:09","slug":"nikita-tszyu-vs-lulzim-ismaili-fight-how-to-watch-details-press-conference-michael-zerafa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/74732\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikita Tszyu vs Lulzim Ismaili fight, how to watch, details, press conference, Michael Zerafa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s boxing bad boy Michael Zerafa failed to front for what was expected to be an explosive press conference showdown with Nikita Tszyu \u2013 and only 24 hours after accusing The Butcher of embarrassing his Hall of Fame father Kostya<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nikita Tszyu vs Lulzim Ismaili | Wednesday 20 August 7PM AEST | Order this PPV event now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n

In a surprise move that has revived memories of his famed 2021 walkout against Tim Tszyu, Zerafa missed the Sydney press conference for Wednesday night\u2019s stacked No Limit pay-per-view.<\/p>\n

While Pretty Boy has already flown into the Harbour City for a card being topped by bouts including himself, Nikita Tszyu and Brock Jarvis, promoter George Rose revealed at the start of proceedings that Zerafa wouldn\u2019t be attending.<\/p>\n

Zerafa, however, fired back with his own version of events<\/a> in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n

It comes as both the fighter and the younger Tszyu sibling are expected to use the card to springboard into a massive domestic grudge match in December, the continuation of a longtime feud between the Melburnian and Australia\u2019s most famous fight family.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

On Wednesday night, world ranked middleweight Zerafa takes on American Mikey Dahlman (18-1), while Tszyu headlines against undefeated European prospect Lulzim Ismaili (12-0).<\/p>\n

Should they both win, No Limit are keen to have the two rivals square off in a stadium show.<\/p>\n

Yet while Tszyu, Ismaili and Dahlman were all present for the media event, No Limit boss Rose was unable to shed any light on the reasons behind Zerafa\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

While Rose refused to be drawn on the reasons for the absence of his co-main fighter, the promoter stressed that he expects the world ranked middleweight to be in attendance for Tuesday\u2019s weigh-ins.<\/p>\n

‘Dark things’ Nikita’s emotional reveal | 02:17<\/p>\n

Opening the press conference, Rose said of Zerafa: \u201cI have just been informed he won\u2019t be here but will be at the weigh-in tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was informed before coming to air.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Main Event host Ben Damon if he had any concerns of Zerafa missing another No Limit card, a seemingly agitated Rose added \u201cnup\u201d before stressing the co-main would \u201cabsolutely\u201d go ahead Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat fight is going ahead, brother,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Mikey has a real energy about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think he\u2019s a guy who could upset plans \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

While he wasn\u2019t on stage, Zerafa\u2019s American rival was present at the event, and stood watching on in the crowd with his small entourage.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s drama isn\u2019t the first time Zerafa has failed to show for promoters No Limit, having famously walked out on what was so supposed to be a hyped 2021 all-Australian showdown with former world champion Tim Tszyu.<\/p>\n

Asked about Zerafa not being there during the press event, Tszyu made a not-so-subtle dig about the previous walkout involving his brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been told much about it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think George (Rose) might have some PTSD.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wasn\u2019t liking it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nikita channels legends as he chops wood | 01:11<\/p>\n

Zerafa has already said that rather than fighting Nikita before Christmas, he would also prefer to go straight into a bout with the former world champ, who has now lost three title fights in America.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Zerafa told Fox Sports Australia that the increasingly bizarre headlines surrounding Nikita Tszyu \u2013 which include eating his wife\u2019s placenta and drinking her breast milk \u2013 were an embarrassment to everything his old man had achieved in the ring. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the no-show also follows a week of headlines between Zerafa and Tszyu, with the latter having branded him an attention-seeking \u201ccoward\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response, Zerafa said Nikita\u2019s increasingly weird antics were disgracing the family legacy created by his father.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Jarvis also took a shot at the AWOL fighter, with the popular Sydney middleweight having himself been discussed as a potential rival for Nikita Tszyu next.<\/p>\n

Jarvis returns to the ring on Wednesday against undefeated Sam Beck, his first fight back after a stoppage loss to American great Keith Thurman earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what that\u2019s all about,\u201d Jarvis said when asked about the Zerafa absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it shows the kind of man he is.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s ran before, done things that are unprofessional \u2026 that\u2019s all I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tszyu\u2019s manager Glen Jennings also hinted at the fighter\u2019s previous history, when he weighed briefly into the drama saying: \u201cI hope he turns up\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s boxing bad boy Michael Zerafa failed to front for what was expected to be an explosive press…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-74732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}