Craigieburn’s Michael Zerafa eyes world title after defeating Jeff Horn
Just days after taking down the former world champion in Bendigo, boxer Michael Zerafa was back training at his Craigieburn gym. After his life-changing win, the 27-year-old has now revealed his next big goal.
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Just days after taking down a former world champion, Craigieburn boxer Michael Zerafa is back in training.
Zerafa, 27, destroyed Jeff Horn in a ninth round knockout to claim World Boxing Association Oceania middleweight title in Bendigo on Saturday night.
This morning Zerafa completed a training session at his sponsor’s gym — Powercore Fitness in Craigieburn — with his eyes firmly fixed on becoming a world champion.
MICHAEL ZERAFA KNOCKS OUT JEFF HORN IN BENDIGO
“I set out a goal 10 years ago when I said I’m going to be Australia’s best and win a world title and I’m nearly there,” Zerafa told the Leader.
“I just beat the former WBO (World Boxing Organisation) world champion in Jeff Horn and it’s my dream and I’ve slowly started living it now.”
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Zerafa now sits sixth in the WBA middleweight rankings and is eyeing a potential world title fight with Japan’s Ryota Murata in late December — which Horn was due to take until his shock defeat.
Zerafa said he wanted to fight the best and was prepared to tackle anyone in front of him — such as Mexico’s Saul Alvarez, Kazakhstan’s Gennady Golovkin and America’s Daniel Jacobs.
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“Fighting anyone of those guys at the MGM (Grand) or Madison Square (Garden) — somewhere big — would be an absolute dream,” he said.
“We want to fight the best. There’s no point us fighting B+ fighters, I want to fight A+ fighters because I believe I’m an A+ fighter.”
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Since his life-changing win on Saturday, Zerafa said he’d been enjoying a bit of downtime at home with family and friends, but was still training every day to keep fit.
His key message to other young athletes was to “just believe in yourself”.
“If you can see it, you can do it,” he said.
“You’re only in competition with yourself. If you don’t give up and you keep pushing, sooner or later you will get that opportunity and you’ll get your moment.”
Zerafa said big promoters had already contacted his team and they would sit down soon to work out what the best fight would be.
jack.paynter@news.com.au