Thursday, January 15
BRISBANE, Australia – The weigh-in for Nikita Tszyu-Michael Zerafa was largely routine, but the make up of Zerafa’s corner on Friday night, BoxingScene understands, will be anything but.
For all of his experience it is little secret that the 33-year-old, 39-fight Zerafa struggles with overthinking, and for a fight in which he is the one under pressure – the raw Tszyu, 27, is fighting for the 12th time as a professional – he appears at risk of overthinking again.
Zerafa – who when not prompted to has often stressed he isn’t under pressure – has prepared for Tszyu under the guidance of Christian Ennor. Ennor will only be his assistant trainer on fight night, however, because by the time they reach the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Josh Arnold will instead be in charge.
He again cut a tense figure when they weighed in at King George Square – though in many respects it would have been difficult for him not to. He and Tszyu came face to face a week earlier in Melbourne, did so again a day later in Brisbane, and have encountered each other again every day since Monday – it is little wonder that by Thursday afternoon they had so little left to say.
As the lead attraction involved in Thursday’s pay-per-view Tszyu was the final fighter to weigh in and the final one to speak. As a consequence dramatic, cinematic music started playing as he started speaking, but far from complemented the words “There’s no more talking; the weight’s off; we’re ready; you’re gonna witness one of the best showdowns and domestic bouts”.
Friday’s fight has felt increasingly significant since at least Monday. Where little over a week earlier access to Tszyu at his gym in Sydney was considerably quieter than that for his higher-profile brother Tim on the eve of his recent fight with Anthony Velazquez, at Monday’s grand arrivals – and the media workouts at a gym in Brisbane on Tuesday – he was particularly in demand. That Thursday’s weigh-in attracted a bigger presence from both the public and media than Wednesday’s press conference is a similarly positive sign for promoters No Limit – not least because they were staged in the same place at the same time.
Among those present on Thursday was one Mike Altamura, of Tim Tszyu’s new management team, and he told BoxingScene that speculation regarding a fight between Tszyu and Errol Spence is premature. That Altamura once managed Zerafa and is working with his opponent’s brother likely makes him well placed to predict the outcome of a contest so many consider a 50-50, but for those same reasons it was a subject on which he therefore refused to be drawn.
Paulie Malignaggi, in town on behalf of broadcasters Main Event, can by comparison be tempted to give an opinion on almost anything. “I liked the intensity of Zerafa,” he told BoxingScene of the weigh-in. “That’s what’s been missing. Nikita’s always Nikita – he’s very hard to read. But I like that Zerafa’s switched it on. Zerafa thrives off of his energy levels; off the chip on his shoulder. The fact that that chip on his shoulder came out in that face to face was important to see. It gives me the belief that this can be a good fight ‘cause I was starting to lose faith that this can be a good fight.
“Tszyu looked really good [physically]. Zerafa’s a little bit older, and you struggle to make the weight when you’re a little bit older, but they looked to have made weight fine.”
Tszyu-Zerafa represents the third pay-per-view fight in Australia in under six weeks, following Jai Opetaia-Huseyin Cinkara and Tszyu-Velazquez. Opetaia is Australia’s finest fighter and Tim Tszyu its highest profile, but Tszyu-Zerafa unquestionably feels the biggest of the three, which may in part owe to its timing as much as the reality that an all-Australian grudge match appeals.
Opetaia-Cinkara and Tszyu-Velazquez came during the Ashes series between England and Australia, where cricket is so popular. From Sunday the Australian Open starts, and in Brisbane there will big screens on which to watch one of tennis’ four grand slams unfold.
“The Australian Open’s huge here in Australia,” No Limit’s George Rose told BoxingScene. “It’s always a risk when you’re coming up against different sports but it is something different for people to tune into. Tennis is a finesse sport; this is a combat sport, a contact sport, and I know there’s a great appetite for it here in Australia.
“Whenever we’re putting fights on we don’t want to come up against huge events like that. It’d be silly to come up against The Ashes. We try to avoid the big sports like that – it’d be like going up agains the NRL or AFL Grand Final – something we’d never try to do.”
On the undercard on Friday the Philippines’ Rodex Piala fights Liam Wilson, and he explained that the money he is being paid will go towards rebuilding the family home destroyed in November by a typhoon. Piala lives with his parents, partner and four children. He will likely be little more than an afterthought in the grand scheme of Friday’s promotion, but he provided a reminder of how for so many prizefighters so much is at stake.
