The fight between Tim Tszyu 18-0 (14) and Michael Zerafa 28-4 (17) will proceed as planned at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia on July 7 despite large sections of the state in lockdown due to the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19.
Tszyu, 26, shifted his camp from Sydney to Newcastle last week just before the latest round of restrictions were applied to the NSW capital.
“Newcastle is the place where everything is still sweet,” Tszyu said to News Corp. “They are talking about having the [rugby league] State of Origin match here. I am here, there’s no cases at this stage, there’s no problems.
“I’ve just been training and coming back to my room. There’s people walking around with masks, you check in wherever you go, but that’s pretty standard now anyway.
“Every camp has its own challenges, but the main thing is I feel god. I’ve got myself to one of the fittest levels I’ve been at, so there are no excuses, I’m ready to go.”
Last week Melburnian Zerafa, 29, riled up Tszyu by referencing his father Kostya’s career-ending loss to Ricky Hatton in Manchester, England 16 years ago. The normally unflappable Tszyu was clearly surprised and offended by the comments.
“That is one thing you don’t do, mention family or past events. I’ll make sure he pays for that,” he said.
Promoter Matt Rose of No Limit Boxing said: “There is a lot of feeling around this fight, it has become personal and you saw that with Michael’s comments about Tim’s dad last week.
“So we’re going ahead with it because Australia can’t miss this. It’s the two best boxers in the country, with so much ill will between them, and the fighters are in their last week of preparation.
“If we don’t go ahead with the fight on July 7 I’m not sure we would see it again, because Tim is so close to a world title shot.
“This won’t be like State of Origin, this isn’t going to be a one-sided event.
“Tim is the No.1 contender for the [WBO] world title, Zerafa is ranked No.6, they’re desperate to get at each other in the ring.”
The full card will proceed in Newcastle as planned with the only difference being that the crowd will be limited to 50% capacity.
“The NRL and AFL will have eight games each they need to put on this weekend under the new restrictions, and they will do it, so there’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to put on our one event,” Rose continued.
“It is actually quite a unique situation. Sydney is shut down, people are stuck at home, but the two best boxers in Australia will go head-to-head next Wednesday and I can’t see a better opportunity for people to see them in action, given how important sport has become to deal with the mental aspect of dealing with lockdowns.”
