Monday, January 12
BRISBANE, Australia – Nikita Tszyu-Michael Zerafa, Friday’s 157lbs catchweight contest, feels big.
The nature of a fight-week bubble is such that anything within that bubble can receive disproportionate significance, and also like little outside of it exists, but equally there is little hiding a lack of interest in or tension surrounding a fight when the final days’ build-up unfolds. Experienced promoters and broadcasters, similarly, concoct grand plans in an attempt to promote the relevant contest, but the grander those plans, the more futile they feel when there remains that often indefinable quality that a fight or promotion lacks.
The “grand arrivals” for Tszyu-Zerafa were staged at the plush LINA Rooftop, where those of that nature of inclination head to enjoy the bar, restaurant and swimming pool overlooking one of the city of Brisbane’s most impressive views. Beyond those involved in Friday’s promotion, Liam Paro – who had been scheduled to fight Paddy Donovan until illness forced Donovan’s withdrawal – and his trainer Alfie Di Carlo were among those present, as were, working on behalf of broadcasters Main Event, Paulie Malignaggi and Shawn Porter, in addition to Kostya Tszyu’s respected one-time trainer Johnny Lewis and more. Also present were so-called “influencers” (BoxingScene remains unconvinced that that should count as a profession), the Australian comedian Aaron Goccs, and the media; above all else, there was little question that – even with the heavy rainfall that would not have been anticipated in the Australian summer, regardless of Brisbane’s tropical climate – there existed a keenness to be around the fight and an anticipation in the air.
Asked of the presence of retired world champions Malignaggi and Porter, No Limit’s Matt Rose explained that No Limit, not Main Event, had engineered their involvement in an attempt to further “validate” Friday’s contest. BoxingScene also noted that, regardless of his frustration at preparing for as long as he would have done for Donovan, Paro’s training camp hadn’t gone to waste. For perhaps the first time in BoxingScene’s presence he appeared to have matured into a convincing welterweight; there is also the reality that in his previous fight, the victory in September over David Papot, he had injured his eye and to fight as early as January 16 could have represented a risk.
Dalton Smith’s victory over Subriel Matias – perhaps partly on account of Matias being one of Paro’s former opponents and Paro’s victory over him representing one of the finest of an Australian fighter in the modern era – was being discussed by many of those present. That Smith had spoken of taking inspiration from the late Ricky Hatton, another British junior welterweight, in the build-up to winning his first world title also meant that Hatton was someone about which Lewis, who oversaw Tszyu’s exciting defeat by Hatton in 2005, spoke. “Dreadful, mate – dreadful,” Lewis said to BoxingScene about his unexpected death. “Never, ever thought that it was going that way for him. It’s a real sad… he was wonderful. After the fight, the next day he came [and saw us] and he was humble, but excited. It was a great spectacle. Very, very proud to be part of it. I thought we were hard done with a few low punches. You know that Kostya would never quit.”
George Rose, of No Limit, introduced the evening by referencing “the best domestic match-up you could possibly make”, which partly demonstrates why there exists such interest in Friday. Australia often has an island’s mentality; Danny Green-Anthony Mundine represents the biggest fight the country has seen. All-Australian contests, ultimately, appear to “cross over” in a way that others do not.
That the rain had made the glass walkway over the swimming pool so slippery meant that the face-offs then staged appear to present a considerable risk. Former NRL professionals-turned heavyweights Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Jeremy Latimore exchanged words and had one of them shoved the other there was not only the swimming pool they could have slipped into, but the floating fire pits that flanked them.
Zerafa, similarly, then looked particularly tense opposite his rival.To observe them standing there was to receive another reminder of part of the perceived appeal of their fight. Tszyu, dressed almost inexplicably in a black kimono and dirty white trainers, couldn’t have been more relaxed; the “Pretty Boy” Zerafa, immaculately groomed, looked ready to punch him there and then. What Zerafa couldn’t hide until then was either nerves or an apparent lack of confidence; he regularly looked at the floor when he was close to being the centre of attention; his back was occasionally slumped, there was notable tension in his shoulders, and he regularly fidgeted with his hands.
Whether that owed to how he feels about Friday’s fight or the publicity and attention surrounding it remains unclear. “To actually feel that tension, to feel the way that everybody’s on board for this fight, it feels good – even to see Nikita’s face,” George Rose told BoxingScene. “He’s locked in. I think it’s a 50-50 fight and he’s most locked in.
“Everybody [seems] invested in what happens with Zerafa and Tszyu and how it’s gonna go, and everyone’s picking a side, which is what we want. I don’t think you can sit in the middle. Tszyu and Zerafa, you sit on a side.
“Rugby league is massive in Australia. For Nelson to do what he’s done – he’s an $800,000 rugby league player. He’s walked away from that into boxing. All the pressure’s on him, but the fact that he took that risk, the interest is in him. There’s a lot of extra interest in this one than we usually get.
“We came here [to the rooftop] for the recce – it was fucking beautiful. There was a sunset. It was fucking beautiful. It was pinks and yellows and blues. [Tonight] it pisses down rain.
“I said tonight, ‘Tip toe out there, please. Nobody push and shove – please just go through this’. There was a laugh, ‘Hahaha’, but then straight away their faces change back to being intense. It’s like ‘Yeah, that’s great, but I’m fucking angry – I wanna fight this guy’. I’m glad that we did that [without incident] and we’re back to focusing on the fight.”
