By Anthony Cocks
In what was billed as a grudge match, Nikita Tszyu (11-0, 9 KOs, 1 NC) and Michael Zerafa (34-5, 22 KOs ,1 NC) had to settle for a no-contest after an accidental clash of heads prematurely ended their bout at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Boondall, Queensland, Australia on Friday night. The 157lb catchweight fight was just starting to heat up when their heads came together in the first round, opening a cut on the left eyelid of Zerafa.
The ringside physician examined the cut between rounds two and three and advised referee Chris Condon to call off the contest. The official time of the stoppage was 0:02 of round number three.
“I don’t know why everyone was booing me, I didn’t stop it, the doctor stopped it,” Zerafa said afterwards. “I said it was blurry but it’s all good, lets go.” Southpaw Tszyu, 27, apologised to his fans after the bout.
“Sorry to everyone that came out and expected a 10 round war,” said Tszyu. “Six months of work… what an anticlimactic ending. I’m sorry. That sucks. Sorry guys.”
Speaking from the changerooms after the bout, Zerafa also voiced his disappointment. “I’m over this shit, man,” the 33-year-old said. “The doctor came over and asked me to cover my eye and asked me if I could see. I said it’s blurry. He never gave me the opportunity to continue, nothing. The referee waved it off. I’m just as confused and angry as everybody else.” Not everyone was buying it. Former world champion Paulie Malignaggi said Zerafa was looking for a way out. “Zerafa quit,” Malignaggi said. “I wanted to find the silver lining for him, but there is no silver lining. “I get what he was doing, he was trying to escape without taking too many lumps. It’s late in your career, you end up fighting more to not lose rather than to win… he found a way to not lose tonight.”
After 15 years in the pro ranks, Zerafa’s career hangs in the balance. “I never quit, man. I never quit. Even Nikita said, what do you do, it’s a cut… It was a good fight, we were just warming up,” said Zerafa.
The scores at the time of the stoppage were 19-19 across the board.
*Editor’s note: When Zerafa was asked in the post-fight interview if he told the ringside physician that he couldn’t see, Zerafa said that he told the doctor that his vision, “Was blurry,” and that he was ready to go. He could be heard clearly telling the doctor, “I can’t see,” several times. For his part, Nikita’s brother Tim Tszyu, confronted Zerafa and yelled mockingly, “I can’t see! I Can’t see!” Tszyu then pointed to his own forehead and quipped, “I went twelve rounds and couldn’t see,” referring to the horrendous cut suffered in the second round of his first fight with Sebastian Fundora, which left his face a mask of blood. Despite his vision being severely hampered, Tszyu fought for ten rounds that way, losing a split decision.
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