Michael Zerafa says neither of the Tszyu brothers – nor his latest rival Tommy Browne – would ever dare come good on threats to fight him outside a boxing ring, stressing: “They know if they did I’d take their front teeth right there”.
It comes as Nikita Tszyu has also suggested he won’t be needing to “remove a testicle” to make weight for Wednesday’s hyped No Limit headliner against Koen Mazoudier – stressing he needs lose only “one more kilo” in 24 hours.
Living up to his reputation as Australian boxing’s bad boy, 32-year-old Zerafa almost came to blows with Browne, before then taking aim at Tszyu – who he wants to fight next – during a chaotic Monday press conference inside Sydney’s ICC Theatre.
BOXING: NIKITA TSZYU v MAZOUDIER and ZERAFA v BROWNE | WED 28 AUG 7PM AEST | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports.
Speaking with Fox Sports Australia afterwards, the fighter dubbed ‘Pretty Boy’ stressed Browne had only agreed to fight him due to “debt” – and had shown fear when the pair almost came to blows on stage, with only No Limit CEO George Rose keeping the pair apart.
Zerafa added it was a similar story with the famed Tszyu boys, who he accused of talking tough about him for the cameras but then refusing to eyeball him whenever their paths crossed.
Fighters get a little freaky in presser | 18:57
Asked about Browne offering to take him outside during the live press event, Zerafa said afterwards: “Who says s… like that?
“You wanna fight me in a carpark? What?
“That’s why I told him ‘mate, don’t worry about the f…ing carpark, you can fight me right here, right now’.
“You could see he was trying to be the hero but then, the moment I stood up and went towards him … mate, I saw fear in his eyes.
“He even pushed (Rose) in front of me.
“I know he definitely wasn’t expecting me to charge at him, just as he doesn’t really want this fight …”
So as for why he signed a contract then?
“He’s in debt,” Zerafa fired. “That’s why he’s taking this fight.
“The guy can’t mix it with me and he knows that.
“Talking a big game.
“It’s like with the Tszyus, I eyed Nikita off at the open workouts on Sunday and he had nothing to say.
“It’s always the same with his brother, too.
“They say ‘oh Zerafa is a rat, Zerafa is this, is that …’
“But say it to my face?
“They won’t do that because they know I’d take their two front teeth right there.”
Should Zerafa beat Browne – which he is promising to do via knockout – he insists he will then go straight into a bout with the younger Tszyu sibling, who is facing Mazoudier for both IBF and WBO regional titles.
A win for ‘The Butcher’ will also see him catapulted into the world’s top 15 super welterweight rankings – creating an incredible, and historic, double with older brother Tim, who fights IBF champ Bakhram Murtazaliev in Orlando, Florida this October.
‘Keep it in your pants’ – Tszyu is WEIRD | 01:27
Elsewhere, Tszyu also revealed how changes to the way he cuts weight this camp see him already just one kilo off the super welterweight limit of 70kg.
The revelation comes after it was suggested over the weekend that Mazoudier would not fight Tszyu if the undefeated 26-year-old fails to make the super welterweight limit.
That followed Tszyu also making headlines over weight prior to his last fight against Italian Danilo Creati, when he arrived to the weigh-ins considerably late and conceding he had lost 5kg since the night before.
“But that last time there was a drama with the steam room,” Tszyu said after Monday’s press conference.
“For a while, I’d been watching a lot of UFC fighters using the steam room for their weight cuts and the (advantages) of that seemed to be legit.
“But for some reason with me, when I’m already dehydrated my body doesn’t sweat when exposed to steam.
“No idea why, the steam sticks to me or something, but no weight gets lost.
“So we were doing multiple rounds of the steam room and no sweat was coming out.
“We were thinking ‘what the f***?’
“But we still made the weight, there were no issues, and have made some changes to diet and water (consumption).
“Right now, I’ve only got one more kilo to lose.”
‘I might have to chop off a testicle’ | 01:05
Zerafa, meanwhile, also took a shot at Nikita Tszyu suggesting he had “a st***y” at Monday’s press conference.
“Anyone who knows boxing will tell you the Tszyu brothers are off their f***ing heads,” he shrugged.
“Have you heard them talk? C’mon man.
“If I said even half the stuff that Nikita does I’d be on A Current Affair.
“He eats snake arse, licks the blood off his brother’s gloves, watches his dogs’ hump … what the f*** is going on?”
Zerafa also revealed that, due to Browne calling him outside during the Monday press conference, he would not be shaking hands after their fight on Wednesday night, no matter the result.
“Although, he’ll probably try,” the Melburnian continued.
“Because the guy is a weasel.
“But I promise you I’m knocking Tommy Browne out.
“What the hell is Tommy Browne going to bring that I haven’t seen?
“You think he’s going to be better than Jeff Horn? Or Kell Brook.
“I took Kell Brook 12 rounds and this guy is no Kell Brook.
“He’s not only fighting ladyboys in Thailand, he has been going the distance with them.
“He’s talking about being a former featherweight champion, a lightweight champion … I’m a f…ing middleweight.
“I mean, just have a look at his legs. The guy is walking around on pins.”
Zerafa also suggested he had watched no footage of Browne in preparation for this fight.
“No, nothing — because his fights don’t make it onto the internet,” he said.
“The only one that has was when he was knocked out by Anthony Mundine, who I knocked out in a minute.
“I’m going to make a statement in this fight and take the guy’s head clean off his shoulders.”
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