Michael Zerafa has called out arch-rival Tim Tszyu again after emphatically beating Besir Ay in Sydney.
Tensions boiled over between the two before their slated 2021 bout after Zerafa slandered Tszyu’s father, nicknaming himself the new ‘Ricky Hatton’, the boxer who dealt Kostya Tszyu his final blow before he left the sport.
Zerafa’s pull-out a week before the fight only added fuel to the fire with many expecting they would eventually meet, despite Tszyu vowing to never fight him again.
But Zerafa wasn’t keen on revisiting his past, instead looking only to move forward and compete for a world title after taking out Ay at the Hordern Pavilion.
“I know Tim is in the building tonight. But I’ve got nothing against him. He’s got a big fight coming up (in Newcastle on April 6) and as an Aussie I’m getting behind him,” Zerafa said.
“I hope he beats (Joey) Spencer. He’s a great athlete; that’s the biggest fight in Australia and I’m not even going to talk smack.”
The 32-year-old claimed the vacant WBO Intercontinental middleweight title against Ay after stopping the German in the seventh round.
First pummelling his opponent into the ropes, Zerafa landed a major blow to Ay’s jaw which dropped him to the canvas.
After the German picked himself up it took Zerafa seconds before landing another combination of punches. After another jaw blow, Ay lay sprawled on the floor.
But the 32-year-old fears he may have landed his winning blows with a suspected broken hand picked up in the second round.
“I was flat but we got the win,” Zerafa said after slowly working his way into the bout.
By the end of the second round his growing momentum came to fruition when Zerafa had Ay reeling after a flurry of blows to the head.
During the breaks, Ay kept an iceberg on his head from the incident, and looked shaky heading into the third round.
By the fifth round Ay began to open his body up through buoyant footwork, but as his attacking flair rose his defensive walls lowered and Zerafa lathered the punches on.
Ay did land a couple of blows but it wasn’t enough to even bruise his opponent as he hit the deck in the seventh round.