SYDNEY, Australia – Nikita Tszyu believes he is ready for his test with Michael Zerafa because of the experienced gained in victory on the night he almost suffered defeat.
The 27 year old enters his biggest fight, at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on January 16, aware that in Zerafa he is confronting his most experienced and complete opponent and one who in Tszyu’s 12th professional outing represents a significant step up in class.
Zerafa is a 39-fight professional who in 2024 challenged Erislandy Lara for the WBA middleweight title and who has competed towards the highest level of his profession against, among others, Peter Quillin, Jeff Horn and Kell Brook.
He is proven in every way in which Tszyu isn’t and yet is perhaps also the underdog of their pay-per-view contest. He fought Lara five months before Tszyu came close to being rescued against Koen Mazoudier, but the younger, fresher fighter expects the ninth-round stoppage he earned that night to prove the difference between victory and defeat.
Tszyu’s uncle and trainer Igor Goloubev asked him if he needed to be rescued after eight rounds because of the exhaustion that Tszyu said meant he was “out on his feet”. He then rallied to force the dramatic stoppage that helped to propel him towards Zerafa, who he fights at a catchweight of 157lbs.
“I’d never been in a situation like that – being pushed physically, mentally and spiritually to the point of exhaustion,” he said. “Every time I walked back into the corners I was still fine, but in the rounds I was, ‘This is hard’. It’s good to have those experiences, because you are now prepared for it. You’re not going to go in blinded.
“I’ve had only 11 fights, but I’ve experienced quite a lot in those 11 fights. I’ve been rocked a couple of times; head clashes; been knocked down. All these little learning experiences, although they were in a very short period of time and with not as high a calibre opponents, I have those memories inside of me and I know what to expect. I know those feelings inside and how to handle them now.
“I’m ready for 10 rounds. I’ve been doing a lot of great sparring. Sparring in the bloody heat. We’re ready for the hardest possible fight. I don’t think that he’s going to bring that intensity that Koen did, but I have to imagine that he’s going to be in my face. Koen pushed me into dark waters and dark territories, and I like to think that I’ve learned and I’ve grown, and become comfortable in that darkness. I felt a lot in this preparation – this training in the heat – the last few rounds when the head’s spinning and you’re overheating and you’ve got no more salt left in your body. Those were the moments I’ve pictured again in that ring with him, and it’s brought me the strength.”
Tszyu was speaking from the Tszyu Fight Club in Rockdale in his home city of Sydney – the gym once used by his famous father Kostya and still used by his older brother.
On Thursday he flies to Melbourne, Zerafa’s home city, in an ongoing attempt to promote their Main Event pay-per-view showdown. On Friday he and Zerafa then come face to face in Brisbane, and do so for the first time since their face off in December shortly before Tim Tszyu defeated Anthony Velazquez, also in Sydney.
“He brought in a spicy energy, and I quite liked it – I like that he initiated it first,” he said of their previous encounter. “I’m always gonna be a little bit calmer; I’m more on the laidback side. But he brought that intensity; that’s fuelling me even more now. I was having fun with it. I was smiling. Sometimes when I smile people think I’m being crazy. Maybe someone told him he’s boring and not really selling the fight; not really selling the rivalry. It could be being in the arena – the atmosphere of the fight night – being in the ring.
“Standing opposite [me] – that can shift momentum. I felt that little shift. I got to really imagine what the fight’s gonna be like; hearing all the noise from the background; feeling the spotlight, and just being in the ring staring opposite him.
“He’s been trying to shift away from the rivalry idea. But it still holds with me.
“Sometimes he plays the villain; sometimes he plays the good guy. I guess it’s whatever he thinks will suit the situation, so it’s like a multiple faceted person. I have a picture of it – deep down, he wants to be a good guy. He wants to be loved. Everyone in this world wants to experience love. Being hated for so long by everyone – by so many people – is taxing on the body, taxing on the mind as well. He’s probably just had enough of it and he’s trying to right the wrongs, but he still has his little slip ups.
“Although he tries to act the good guy, he still has that piece of shit in him. But we all do – that’s the thing. We all have that piece of shit in us. He just vocalises it on TV and isn’t afraid to share it around.”
