In his second fight since his two-round dismantling by veteran middleweight champion Erislandy Lara, Michael Zerafa continued his road to a fight with Australian commercial juggernaut Tim Tszyu by scoring a stoppage of Germany’s Besir Ay.

Zerafa, 33-5 (21 KOs), from Melbourne, is one of boxing’s divisive characters.

The 32 year old said afterwards: “I always play the villain and I know you guys boo me and I love it… We got the job done, I was a little bit flat. I felt my right hand go in round two, but we got the win. Whether you love me or hate me, that’s fine. We need villains sometimes and I’m happy to play that role. We put our bodies on the line and we don’t get the respect we deserve.”

Asked about a future fight with Tszyu, who fights Joey Spencer on April 6, Zerafa responded: “Me and Tim, I’ve got nothing against him. I hope he beats Spencer. He’s a great athlete, I think I’m a great athlete. That’s the biggest fight in Australia.”

There was a confident and relaxed look about Ay, 19-2 (9 KOs), from Hannover, in the early going but Zerafa started to have success with straight shots in the second round, with the German retreating in straight lines. Zerafa looked the stronger of the two in the third, able to walk Ay down and push the visitor back when in close. The pace slowed in the fourth and fifth although Zerafa had success near the end of the fifth when, emboldened by his success, he moved in behind his shots and the two fighters bumped heads.

Zerafa often scored with one-twos, but a right uppercut set the wheels in motion for Ay to take two visits to the canvas in the seventh.

The Australian had been looking for the shot, and he followed it in with several rights to cause the first knockdown. After Ay made it back to his feet, a crisp right-left hook-right combination dumped him once more.

The referee Chris Condon considered letting it continue, but moments later he stopped the action with Zerafa coming on strong.

The end was confirmed at 1.34 of the seventh.