Speaking back in August<\/a>, Nikita branded Zerafa an insecure, attention-seeking \u201ccoward\u201d \u2013 and welcomed the opportunity to \u201ccrush every bone in his body\u201d when it eventually came time to throw down.<\/p>\nWhile things, for a time, had remained largely respectful between the two, Tszyu finally let his feelings be known in an interview with Fox Sports Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what? I reckon I went too easy on Zerafa when I first spoke about him,\u201d the fighter started.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure, he\u2019s got a half-decent boxing record.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut other than that, I don\u2019t like him and we\u2019ll never be friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has taken personal shots at my family, and me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stayed quiet about it, but quiet doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019ve forgotten.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I hope I get the opportunity to crush every bone in his body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tszyu also questioned Zerafa suggesting he was only ever playing a role as Australia\u2019s boxing bad boy \u2013 and that the character wasn\u2019t one he was comfortable portraying any longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cZerafa changes who he is depending on who\u2019s watching,\u201d Nikita continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cNice guy, bad guy, victim \u2014 he\u2019s played them all.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment he\u2019s playing the nice guy.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut deep down we all know the real Zerafa is insecure and desperate for attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon after, Tszyu added: \u201cThere is one thing he can never deny, he was a coward when he chose to run his mouth, then run from the fight with Tim.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows this, and it lives with him every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Micheal Zerafa in action against Mikey Dahlman in August.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
While the Zerafa-Tszyu showdown was initially slated to take place in December, that slot will likely be taken up by former world champion Tim Tszyu, headlining a Sydney show just before Christmas in what will be his first appearance under new coach, Pedro Diaz.<\/p>\n
Currently training in Miami, Florida, the older Tszyu sibling has told No Limit he is keen to begin his career resurrection as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
The slight Zerafa-Tszyu delay also suits undefeated, rising star Nikita \u2013 with \u2018The Butcher\u2019 recently forced to miss 10 days of training due to his involvement in a Sydney car crash.<\/p>\n
The impending grudge match will also bring to a head some years of bad blood between Zerafa and Australia\u2019s No.1 fight family \u2013 with \u2018Pretty Boy\u2019 having famously walked away from a fight with Tim Tszyu in 2021.<\/p>\n
Since then, the Melburnian has engaged in several verbal jousts with the sons of Hall Of Famer, Kostya Tszyu.<\/p>\n
For Zerafa, a win over Nikita would likely earn his shot at big brother Tim, who is himself looking to bounce back after suffering three world title defeats against Sebastian Fundora and Bakhram Murtazaliev.<\/p>\n
S Nikita Tszyu celebrates winning against Lulzim Ismaili after the WBO Inter-Continental Super Welterweight Title bout at ICC Sydney Theatre on August 20, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Back in 2024, the pair even shared a massive Las Vegas card where Tszyu lost a bloody war against Fundora, while Zerafa was kayoed in the first round of his world title fight against WBA middleweight champ Erislandy Lara.<\/p>\n
Since then, however, Zerafa has notched up three wins against Tommy Browne, Besir Ay and Mikey Dahlman, and with 39 professional fights to his name shapes as easily the biggest test of Nikita Tszyu\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
Undefeated in all 11 fights since turning pro, The Butcher has quickly risen up to become one of the nation\u2019s most exciting pay-per-view stars.<\/p>\n
More recently, the 27-year-old southpaw has also earned himself a No.9 ranking with the IBF super welterweight division, and No.12 with the WBO, despite having spent the best part of 12 months battling a hand issue.<\/p>\n
Yet after his year on the sidelines, Tszyu returned in August, finishing Lulzim Asmaili within a round.<\/p>\n
On the same card, Zerafa also finished America\u2019s Dahlman in a tick over two minutes, setting up a match that is now being compared to some of the nation\u2019s biggest domestic blockbusters of recent years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Australia\u2019s greatest grudge matches is on \u2013 with Nikita Tszyu and Michael Zerafa finally agreeing to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534502,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[172806,6207,186,22631,1935,126119,172816,55866,172810,15570,21610,172807,172809,577,126111,22626,61943,172805,172818,172813,538,60774,119,127707,172812,17905,2048,172820,60095,60101,300,24993,22617,172819,172817,172815,172811,13691,172808,79,1862,172821,16,15,25002,172814,60097],"class_list":{"0":"post-534501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-all-aussie-grudge-match","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-boxing","13":"tag-breast-milkboxing","14":"tag-car-accidentboxing","15":"tag-car-crash","16":"tag-career-resurrection","17":"tag-chris-eubank","18":"tag-conor-benn","19":"tag-domestic-blockbusters","20":"tag-event-ring-walk","21":"tag-florida","22":"tag-fox-sports-news","23":"tag-getty-images-inc","24":"tag-gold-coast","25":"tag-grudge-matches","26":"tag-half-decent-boxing-record","27":"tag-impending-grudge-match","28":"tag-las-vegas","29":"tag-matt-king","30":"tag-miami","31":"tag-michael-zerafa","32":"tag-name-shapes","33":"tag-nevada","34":"tag-new-south-wales","35":"tag-nice-guy","36":"tag-nick-walshaw","37":"tag-nikita-tszyu","38":"tag-north-america","39":"tag-northern-america","40":"tag-oceania","41":"tag-pedro-diaz","42":"tag-possible-venues","43":"tag-press-conference-video","44":"tag-professional-fights","45":"tag-queensland","46":"tag-ring-walk-time","47":"tag-sports","48":"tag-sydney","49":"tag-tommy-browne","50":"tag-uk","51":"tag-united-kingdom","52":"tag-united-states-of-america","53":"tag-verbal-jousts","54":"tag-world-title"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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