{"id":360471,"date":"2024-01-17T00:55:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T01:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=360471"},"modified":"2024-01-17T03:02:48","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T03:02:48","slug":"aussies-quest-for-world-title-shot-made-official","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=360471","title":{"rendered":"Aussie's quest for world title shot made official"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Zerafa<\/a> finally has clarity over his protracted shot at a world title after the WBA ordered middleweight champion Erislandy Lara to next defend his title against the Australian.<\/p>\n

Since being paid a six figure sum to step aside to allow Lara to fight Danny Garcia, a fight that never came to fruition, Zerafa has been forced to sit on the sidelines but now the ruling puts the fight with Lara back into play.<\/p>\n

"WBA rules entitle the President and the Championships Committee at their discretion to define a mandatory period," WBA Championship Committee chairman Carlos Chavez wrote to Lara's team.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

"Your champion status was conditioned to nine (9) months mandatory defence period. Since you won the title on May 01, 2021, the next obligatory championship bout is past due from February 01, 2022, and shall box against the official contender Michael Zerafa.<\/p>\n

"Pursuant to WBA rule C.13- Bout Limitations \u2013 the champion may not fight a boxer who is not the official challenger within sixty (60) days of the expiration of the mandatory defence period."<\/p>\n

A deal between the two boxers must be reached\ufeff by February 15 or else the fight will head to a purse bid.<\/p>\n

It's understood\ufeff Lara (29-3-3, 17KOs) would be entitled to a 75-25 split as the reigning champion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"In nearly three years the belt has not been defended," Zerafa told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"They look at me as an easy win, which is fine, Lara has paid his dues. This is to rewrite the story.<\/p>\n

"I've been quiet \ufeffand under the radar.<\/p>\n

"Boxing, they say it's all about toughness in the ring\ufeff. But outside the ring it's all about how you conduct yourself mentally and emotionally.<\/p>\n

"It has been tough but the light end of the tunnel is there for me now."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Zerafa finally has clarity over his protracted shot at a world title after the WBA ordered middleweight champion Erislandy Lara to next defend his […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":305543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=360471"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360479,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360471\/revisions\/360479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/305543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=360471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=360471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=360471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}