Junior middleweight contender Tim Tszyu 17-0 (13) has continued his war of words with Michael Zerafa 28-4 (17) following the Melbourne boxer’s one-round blowout of Anthony Mundine 48-11 (28) earlier this month.
The 28-year-old Zerafa gatecrashed Tszyu’s first-round knockout victory over Bowyn Morgan in Sydney in December to call for a fight with the rising star but was matched with the 45-year-old Mundine instead.
After easily defeating Mundine at Bendigo Stadium in Bendigo, Australia on March 13, Zerafa again called out Tszyu and demanded he “stop running”.
Tszyu, 26, said he didn’t even watch the fight.
“I couldn’t even watch it,” Tszyu told Fox Sports.
“I thought it was ethically not acceptable to watch, because there’s only one thing that’s going to happen.”
Zerafa jumped on Mundine from the opening bell and sent him crashing to the canvas twice, forcing referee Ignatius Missailidis to wave off the contest at the 2:09 mark of the opening round. Mundine looked like a shell of the fast and flashy fighter who entertained fans with his performances in the super middleweight division in the mid-2000s.
Tszyu condemned Zerafa for using the media to try to land a fight with him.
“I find the whole thing about him is he’s trying to do a circus. He’s trying to gain media attention,” Tszyu told AAP ahead of his fight next week against Brisbane-based Irishman Dennis Hurricane’ Hogan 28-3-1 (7).
“If it wasn’t for me, who’s he going to fight?
“He sees himself as this A-class fighter and a pay-per-view fighter and in reality he’s not.
“He’s trying to use his mouth to get the fight.”
Tszyu added he would only face Zerafa as a “last option”.
“If there’s nothing else on the table, then we’ll pursue that,” the Sydneysider said.
“You don’t get an opportunity by beating a 47-year-old grandfather. Let’s just say that.
“I’ve got top-10 options that I’m going for. The world title opportunities, the Liam Smiths, the (Magomed) Kurbanovs, the Danny Garcias, they’re the boys I want.
“They’re the big boys in the division that I want to play with.
“We got offered the Mundine fight and I said straight away it’s not happening.
“It’s disrespectful for Mundine. He’s a grandfather, he’s 47 years old. Who does that? There’s a time when just enough’s enough.”
Before that can happen Tszyu will need to get past canny veteran Hogan, whose three losses have all come in fights for various versions of the world title.
“I’m improving as a fighter, I get better each time and I’ve been proving that to everyone,” said Tszyu, who is the number one contender to WBO champion Brian Castano 17-0-1 (12) of Argentina.
“I’m targeting the big boys in the division. I’m going to get the opportunity to fight one of those guys soon, so I’ve got to be a hundred percent ready.”
