Jeff Horn v Michael Zerafa: Horn suffers 9th round stoppage in Bendigo
Michael Zerafa has rocked Brisbane boxer Jeff Horn in Bendigo and destroyed Horn’s hopes of a $2m superfight. WATCH THE VIDEO
Boxing/MMA
Don't miss out on the headlines from Boxing/MMA. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Melbourne’s Michael Zerafa knocked out former world champ Jeff Horn in the ninth round in a sensational upset in Bendigo on Saturday night.
Horn’s father Jeff Snr demanded his corner end the fight and Horn’s brother Ben hurled a towel into the ring as the fighter tottered around on wobbly legs. The bout was ruled over at 2min 24 sec of Round 9.
Stream over 50 sports Live & On-Demand with KAYO SPORTS on your TV, computer, mobile or tablet. Just $25/month, no lock-in contract. Get your 14-day free trial and start streaming instantly >
Horn collapsed to the canvas. The knockout ruins Horn’s $2 million shot at world middleweight champ Ryota Murata in Japan in December.
Horn, 31, ranked the No.3 middleweight in the world and 5.5kg heavier than when he beat Manny Pacquiao at Suncorp Stadium for the world welterweight title two years ago, struggled throughout against Zerafa’s slick boxing.
With his wife and mother screaming in anguish, Horn went down in Round 2 from a long right hand and he was covered in blood from a clash of heads in Round 3 as cutman Stephen Edwards worked overtime to seal the wound over his left eye.
Zerafa kept up a steady diet of jabs in Round 4 as Horn tried to turn the fight around with big overhand rights that frequently missed.
It was the same in the fifth but Horn kept up the pressure hoping Zerafa would crack.
By Round 6 Zerafa was slowing down and while Horn kept rolling forward he couldn’t land the clincher.
Zerafa was elusive throughout, boxing beautifully behind his jab and right hand.
Finally in Round 9 Zerafa battered Horn with sustained bombardment and the boxer was out on his feet.
Earlier, Brisbane’s 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, the 193cm 102kg Joe Goodall dominated Perth’s Christian Ndzie Tsoye for six rounds but judges called it a draw.
Logan’s “Demon Barber’’ Andrew Hunt, another Horn teammate, was held to a draw by Melbourne’s Indian-born Ankush Hooda over six rounds.
In a battle of 70kg southpaws, the heavy-hitting hairdresser found the Melbourne fighter’s chin rock solid. Scores were 58-56 Hunt, 58-56 Hooda, 57-57 draw.
In the main support bout all-time great Jeff Fenech’s protégé Brock Jarvis outpointed Filipino shock-puncher Ernesto Saulong 100-90, 99-91, 98-92 in a super-bantamweight battle.
But women still stole the early action, with Logan mother of three Shannon O’Connell, 36, winning a close, controversial split decision over Saudi-born slugger Bianca ``Bam Bam Elmir’’, 37, the Australian featherweight champ.
Scores were 57-56 for Elmir and 58-55 and 59-54 for O’Connell who gave birth to her son Felix after a caesarean section at Brisbane’s Logan Hospital seven months ago.
The 40-year-old Damien Lock, who played 18 top-grade games for Carlton in the AFL 20 years ago, was dropped twice and stopped in two rounds by Tasmania’s Bo Belbin.
Perth’s Rianne Ware outpointed Bendigo’s Lorrinda Webb with a four-round split decision. Scores were 39-37, 37-39, 39-37.
Best known as a tough MMA fighter from Perth, Ware grappled with Webb’s southpaw style
Anthem drama erupts amid boxing farce
Middleweight king Janibek Alimkhanuly’s title defence against Andrei Mikhailovich in Sydney has been rocked by farcical scenes.
‘Punishment for what he did’: Janibek makes brave Kiwi pay
Friday night’s world title fight descended into a farce before the bell rung, but despite the wrong national anthem being played for middleweight world champion Janibek Alimkhanuly, the Kazakh king took care of business.