{"id":90589,"date":"2021-06-25T01:44:16","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T01:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=90589"},"modified":"2021-06-25T03:57:39","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T03:57:39","slug":"savage-response-to-zerafa-boycott-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=90589","title":{"rendered":"Savage response to Zerafa boycott threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tim Tszyu<\/a> has reassured Michael Zerafa<\/a> they "won't need refs" for their fight after the Victorian threatened to pull out if referee John Cauchi is appointed to oversee the bout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zerafa can't get over Cauchi's decision not to stop his 2019 rematch with Jeff Horn when his rival looked gone after a deep cut opened above his left eye<\/a>. He maintains the defeat in Brisbane cost him more than a million dollars.<\/p>\n

Tszyu, however, had an easy fix when asked about Zerafa's concerns over the officiating.<\/p>\n

"In all honesty, we don't need refs," Tszyu told reporters after training in Newcastle this morning.<\/p>\n

\"Tszyu's<\/p>\n

"This fight won't need refs. This fight won't need judges. It's not going past 10 (rounds).<\/p>\n

"Look, he's been an ex-girlfriend for the last three years following me around.<\/p>\n

"He can't get my name out of his mouth. And in the last two weeks, now they're talking about refs and this?"<\/p>\n

Zerafa's team questioned the length of time Horn was given at a pivotal moment in the fight when Cauchi called the doctor in to inspect the cut. Horn came out of the stoppage with more energy and landed a telling blow to send Zerafa crashing to the canvas in the ninth round to win via TKO.<\/p>\n

Zerafa's trainer Sam Labruna told Wide World of Sports Cauchi's name came up specifically during the negotiations with Tszyu's promoters when they requested "neutral officials and no John Cauchi."<\/p>\n

\"Horn<\/p>\n

"I said to Matt Rose and his brother, 'It's no use us going in any further to talk contracts or anything, we need to sort out officials.' Because honestly, we will not take the fight, Labruna said.<\/p>\n

"We've got other avenues too."<\/p>\n

The NSW Combat Sports Authority appoints the official within a week of the fight, Cauchi was involved in a confrontation with a member of Gallen's team after the loss to Justis Huni. He apologised for the clash after audio was released of the exchange.<\/p>\n

Zerafa's demands over refereeing is a true indication that he is feeling the pressure according to Tszyu. The undefeated star said it's clear his opponent's fixation on the variables outside the fight itself show he's feeling the heat.<\/p>\n

"He's had a lot to say over the past three years. The pressure's on him. He's the one that's been saying that I'm this and I'm that and that he's going to beat me, that's he's the best blah blah blah.<\/p>\n

"It's all nonsense in the end. The pressure's on him."<\/p>\n

Tszyu also addressed the Micky Hatton jibe from earlier in the week<\/a> when Zerafa appeared to make light of Kostya Tszyu's career crushing loss to Ricky Hatton in 2005. The Sydney fighter maintained the comments were disrespectful but denied it cut deep.<\/p>\n

"It didn't really rattle me. He's just got a big mouth," Tszyu said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"What I like to do with big mouths is punch them in the face.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Nothing gets under my skin. I just thought some things are disrespectful. Some things you don't mention, especially when it's involved with family."\u00a0<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim Tszyu has reassured Michael Zerafa they "won't need refs" for their fight after the Victorian threatened to pull out if referee John Cauchi is […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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\/90589"}],"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=90589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90591,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90589\/revisions\/90591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}