Michael Zerafa says he is done with boxing. The cut over his left eye ended the fight against Nikita Tszyu at Brisbane’s Entertainment Centre on Friday night, and backstage he sounded like someone who has had enough of all of it.
The fight lasted two rounds. Zerafa took an accidental headbutt, the eye split, and when the ringside doctor checked between rounds, Zerafa said it was blurry. The referee waved it off. The crowd booed. Zerafa walked out to a security escort and spent the next ten minutes explaining why none of it was his fault.
“I’m over this shit, man,” Zerafa told Fox Sports backstage. “The doctor came, asked me, covered my eye and said, ‘Can you see?’ I said it’s blurry. He never gave me the opportunity to continue.”
His cornerman tried to help. He said the cut wasn’t bad, hardly bled, thought Zerafa could keep going. But the fighter himself told the doctor his vision was blurry. That is all a doctor needs to hear.
Why This Goes Beyond the Cut
Zerafa famously walked out on Tim Tszyu in 2021. No explanation worked then, and none worked here. Whether the stoppage was premature does not change what happened. He told the doctor he couldn’t see clearly. Referee Chris Condon waved it off. The crowd remembered 2021.
Now Zerafa is talking retirement. “I don’t know if they’re going to see me back in the ring, man. I’m fg done,” he said. “I’ve bled for this sport. I’ve done everything for this sport. I never get the credit I deserve.”
He also hinted at something darker without committing to it fully. When asked if he was alleging conspiracy, he backed off but left the door open. “I’m not going to say that. Look at my eye. I don’t know.”
What Zerafa Actually Told the Doctor
This is where it falls apart. Zerafa claimed he was fine to continue. But when pressed on his exact words, he admitted he told the doctor it was blurry. “Out of that eye! Because he told me to cover it,” Zerafa said. “I was sweet. I was just answering his questions. I said it was blurry… There was blood in my eye.”
That is not how it works. A fighter cannot tell a doctor his vision is compromised and then complain the fight was stopped. The doctor does not ask if you want to continue. He asks if you can see. Zerafa said his vision was blurry.
His cornerman believed the cut was manageable. “Michael asked me if it was sweet (the cut) and I said yeah, it was nothing. I didn’t think it’d impair his vision too much, didn’t bleed at all. I thought he was able to continue.” Maybe the cut was workable. But Zerafa’s own answer ended the fight.
The crowd was furious because they paid to watch a grudge fight, not a two-round technical stoppage. And they remembered 2021.
Where This Leaves Him
If Zerafa retires, no one will beg him to return. He never fought for a real title. He had moments, but they were scattered between long stretches of inactivity and poor opponent selection. The Australian market wanted him to be more than he was, and now it doesn’t want him at all.
Nikita Tszyu called it cowardly afterward. His brother Tim has already dismissed Zerafa as irrelevant. If Zerafa does come back, it will be in smaller venues with less money. The name does not carry weight anymore.
He apologized to the crowd. “I never quit. That’s why I apologised out there. Even Nikita said ‘yeah, it’s a cut’. What do you want me to do? I had to get escorted out of here. It’s bs, man. I’m over this shit.”
But the facts remain: he walked out on Tim in 2021, and on Friday night he told a doctor his vision was blurry. Both times, the Tszyu family was left standing in the ring while Zerafa walked away.
If Zerafa wanted respect he should’ve fought harder instead of givin’ up when things got tough. Fans paid good money to watch him fight and all we got was drama and excuses.
‘I never quit’ but then also says ‘I’m done with boxing.’ Which one is it bro? Can’t have both ways just cause people booed you off the ring 😂.
‘Exactly bro! Make up your mind instead of cryin’ every time things don’t go your way 😑 This sport needs men not complainers.
He said he couldn’t see out his eye and still mad they stopped it? What does he expect? Doctor did his job right cause no one wanna see a guy go blind in the ring.
‘Cause he just looking for someone to blame man 🤦♂️ He ain’t built like real fighters who push through pain and cuts like that.
I don’t get why people still back Zerafa. He ain’t shown up when it counts. Always runnin’ his mouth but never finishes strong. He ain’t championship material and never was.
True man 💯 He talks big but folds under pressure every time. If he’s done with boxing, good riddance honestly. We need fighters who actually got heart.
Zerafa always got some excuse ready. First he bails on Tim, now he saying it’s the doctor’s fault? Bro, you told him you couldn’t see! That’s on you, not anyone else.
Exactly! You can’t say your eye’s blurry and then blame the doctor for stoppin’ it. If you ain’t ready to fight, just say so. Don’t play the victim every time 😤.