'Cowardly act': Fight between Nikita Tszyu, Michael Zerafa ends in farcical no result

BRISBANE: The grudge match between Nikita Tszyu and Michael Zerafa ended with no result on Friday night and with fans chanting "bullshit, bullshit, bullshit" when the fight was called off because the latter had a cut eye.

Zerafa claimed in several post-fight interviews that the independent doctor had called the fight off after round two against his wishes, but the polarising Melbourne boxer was showered in boos and sprayed by Nikita's older brother, Tim, in an explosive encounter that surfaced on social media.

Some fans were so incensed by the Friday night fizzer that they hurled cans of beer, presumably empty ones, into the ring.

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"Brother, I'm not shaking your hand!" an infuriated Tim told Zerafa at Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

"He's a bitch," Tim said of Zerafa in another video.

Asked if Nikita should agree to a rematch with Zerafa, Tim said: "Rematch? He doesn't deserve this platform ever!"

Speaking on the Main Event panel, Tim said Zerafa had committed a "cowardly act".

Nikita also laid blame squarely on Zerafa.

"I didn't think it [the cut] was that bad," Nikita told reporters.

"It's a shame that he took the first exit that he could find."

Zerafa had a bleeding cut to his left eye after clashing heads with Nikita on multiple occasions over the first two rounds.

The 33-year-old offered his version of events in an interview with Main Event's Ben Damon in the ring.

"I said [to the independent doctor], 'It's blurry, but all good, let's go'."

Replays showed the doctor putting a hand over Zerafa's right eye and asking him if he could see.

"It's blurry, I can't see, I can't see," Zerafa replied.

Subsequently, the referee said the fight must be called off and end in no result, to which Zerafa nodded.

They were fighting for the vacant WBO international middleweight title.

Speaking in his dressing room, Zerafa teed off.

"I mean, I'm over this shit, man," Zerafa said on the Main Event coverage.

"Honestly, the doctor came, covered my eye, he asked me, 'Can you see?' I said, 'It's blurry'. He never gave me the opportunity to continue. Nothing. Just waved it off."

Damon then challenged Zerafa.

"You would understand the repercussions, though, of saying that you couldn't see out of that eye," Damon said.

"The doctor asked me questions, I answered the questions," Zerafa replied.

"I'm just as confused and angry as everybody else.

"I'm f---ing over it. I don't even know if they're gonna see me back in the ring anymore, man. I'm f---ing done.

"I've bled for this sport, I've done everything for this sport, I never get the credit I deserve, man, this is f---ing bullshit.

"I feel sorry for Nikita, I feel sorry for the fight fans, for myself, everybody, man. Everyone's f---ing built this fight."

Zerafa was booed by the crowd during his interview in the ring, then was escorted to his dressing room by a legion of security guards.

"Can you understand why the crowd out there are so angry and why people are saying some of the things ... about you having quit in this fight?" Damon asked Zerafa.

"I never quit, man," Zerafa clapped back.

"This is what I mean — I never quit.

"I understand; that's why I apologised out there.

"Why does everyone gotta get on their high horse?

"I have to get f---ing escorted out of here. It's f---ing bullshit, man. I'm over this shit."

Despite saying he was "f---ing done", Zerafa said when prodded that he would be up for a rematch with Nikita.

Zerafa and the Tszyu family have history.

In 2021, Zerafa enraged the Tszyu camp when he sensationally withdrew from a scheduled fight against Tim, citing COVID-19 concerns.

As the promoter, No Limit Boxing was left in the lurch in 2021 and again on Friday night.

Chief executive George Rose was asked on Friday night if, in his view, Zerafa was to blame on this occasion, and whether his company would continue to deal with him.

"It is too early for me to answer how we progress forward in the Tszyu-Zerafa space," Rose said.