BRISBANE, Australia – His former opponent Jeff Horn believes that Michael Zerafa’s experience gives him the edge in Friday’s catchweight contest with Nikita Tszyu.
The all-Australian 157lbs match-up at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre by some distance represents the biggest and most challenging of Tszyu’s so-far 11-fight career. Zerafa, by comparison, enters his 40th date having previously challenged for a version of the world middleweight title and succeeded on similar occasions – including against Horn.
By most estimations their pay-per-view contest is expected to be determined by whether the 27-year-old raw-but-aggressive Tszyu is capable of overpowering Zerafa or whether Zerafa, at 33, is too seasoned and too cultured for his younger foe.
There is also the reality that Zerafa remains sufficiently unpredictable that even if his best is enough to defeat Tszyu, he cannot be relied upon to perform to it, and it is partly for that reason that the retired Horn recognises why a victor is so difficult to pick.
“It’s a tough one, because Michael’s had his tests and he’s fallen down on some of those tests that he’s had, but he’s still a very capable and good fighter,” Horn told BoxingScene. “He’s one of the top-level Australian fighters that we have. This is an interesting match-up. This is why it’s hard for people to split. They don’t know which way to go and it’s very even out there.
“I’ve got to lean towards the Zerafa camp, only because of the experience, but Zerafa’s had a lot of changes and things. At the same time, Tszyu’s kind of had that as well.
“Michael’s fit; he’s good at boxing, so he can probably do it all day long. He probably has a little bit more reach on Tszyu, so if he’s able to use that on fight night and clip him with some good shots I think he can pepper Nikita and win the fight.
“What he’s not so good at is probably going in too fast and too confident. I don’t think he’s, by the look of him, got that attitude for this one. He seems very respectful; very mellow to what we’ve seen in the past. Zerafa is certainly not the Zerafa that was in there with me [one win each in 2019]. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing for him – does he need to have that angst and that fieriness to have more on fight night?
“Nikita’s got the youth. He’s got the youth, and he’s a strong dude as well. He’s got the power, and if Michael Zerafa underestimates him just a little bit that’s where his downfall will be. He’s getting, probably, knocked out by a younger Nikita. He doesn’t think a lot in the fight – he just goes in there, goes ‘Kill’. That’s all. Tim [Tszyu, Nikita’s older brother] does this a little bit better – he does it in strategy – whereas Nikita might just go full on into it, and that might be a downfall in this one if he tries that.”
Horn, who in 2017 controversially defeated the great Manny Pacquiao and has also recorded defeats by the similarly great Terence Crawford, and also Tim Tszyu, was then asked if Zerafa was among the best he fought, and he responded: “He’s got to be up there. He’s a very capable fighter. There’s not much you can say he does too wrong. I’ve fought some pretty good names out there. He’d have to be in the top five, top 10, of fighters I’ve fought in the past.
“It will be a feel-out first round for them, but if the feel out goes a little bit and there’s a couple of good shots landed, we could see an early night if one of ‘em sees… it’s either early or it stops later in the fight. It’s a stoppage – this doesn’t go to a decision, I don’t think. I think a Zerafa stoppage.
“This one’s been a festering fight for quite some time now. People wanna see that Tszyu-Zerafa fight. They almost had the Tim Tszyu fight and that fell through for Covid reasons and that’s sort of why this fight’s so big right now. It’s like a world-title fight for these guys. If they beat each other, it should hopefully be a good pay day for each of them.
“They both know the magnitude of this fight and what it means for them. It’s a big setback to lose it, but I don’t think it’s a massive Nikita Tszyu setback. More people are thinking he’s not going to be able to be this seasoned. The boxing purists – ‘Surely Zerafa should win this one’. But who knows? If Zerafa goes in there a slightly off version, Tszyu can stop him.”
