Michael Zerafa is heading into fight week with guns blazing as he looks to return to the winners’ circle when he faces Tommy Browne in Sydney next Wednesday.
The recent world title challenger again hit out at long-time rival Tim Tszyu, while also firing back at Koen Mazoudier, the man who will face Nikita Tszyu in the main event.
Wishing to challenge the narrative that Tim Tszyu is being avoided by potential opponents, Zerafa said several fighters had reached out to him following his comments regarding the failed negotiations between Tszyu’s camp and Erickson Lubin.
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“Do you know how many people, including Lubin himself, messaged me?” Zerafa told Sporting News.
“I had Charlos, proper fighters reaching out to me, promoters, trainers, everyone saying, ‘Spot on.’
“One opponent, you say, ‘He ran scared.’ Whatever, it happens all the time. But every opponent?
“The people that he’s saying are running scared from him end up fighting bigger and better names.
“He said ‘this guy pulled out’ and then he goes and fights Canelo.
“Tszyu’s just sitting there saying, ‘They’ve run scared. Another one’s run scared.’ And people are believing this nonsense.
“I don’t even know what to say, I genuinely don’t even know what to say anymore. No matter what I say, people will go, ‘Zerafa this and Zerafa that.’ I don’t know.
“I heard him in an interview say that Canelo Alvarez is running scared from him, and Terence Crawford.
“Like surely people aren’t believing this? Surely. I don’t know, man. It’s got me stuffed.”
Zerafa is fighting for the first time since his second-round knockout defeat to Erislandy Lara for the WBA middleweight world title in Las Vegas back in March.
Mazoudier accused Zerafa of “quitting” in that fight in an interview with News Corp last month, adding that the Victorian had previously turned down the opportunity to fight him.
“We’re talking about a guy that came out of a nut house,” Zerafa said when asked about Mazoudier’s comments, referencing the Sydneysider’s public mental health struggles.
“I don’t really have too much to say, I don’t really care, he’s talking about me quitting in Vegas for a world title, somewhere he’ll never see, so it doesn’t really matter to me.”
Zerafa confirmed Mazoudier was one of several names offered to him for a short-notice bout in late 2022.
“He’s delusional. They asked me to fight Mazoudier amongst seven others,” he added.
“I only had two weeks for that fight, they offered me Ben Mahoney, they offered me Wade Ryan, who I’ve already fought, they offered me Mazoudier.
“I said for these guys, I need more than two weeks and I told Mazoudier that. I’ll fight [Danilo] Creati who’s an undefeated fighter who nearly beat Nikita.
“I didn’t cherry pick, I just chose a more comfortable opponent in terms of the time limit that I had.”
While he wouldn’t confirm the specifics of a three-fight deal with No Limit Boxing, Zerafa hopes a bout with Nikita Tszyu will follow this one, pending them both getting through their respective opponents next week.
Now 32, Zerafa said he’d taken valuable lessons from his loss in Vegas earlier this year and he appears to be sitting more comfortably in his role as the villain in Australian boxing’s pantomime.
“I just feel good. That loss, as much as I never wanted, I needed it,” he said.
“Being out of the ring for 16 months, I got real complacent, I got real repetitive.
“I kept telling myself I’d done a 16-month camp and then when I got out there I just was not prepared.
“Anyone that knows boxing knows that when I’m on, I’m a very hard person to beat.
“It’s going to be an intense week, I can already feel it. From Sunday to Wednesday, it’s going to be intense. I love it.”
And has he got a post-fight callout ready to go should he get the win on Wednesday night?
“100 per cent,” he said.
“You’ll hear it, nice and loud and you’ll hear all the boos in there too, we’ll get them going.”
