Australian Boxing/SM Memorial thread

Let’s not forget I knocked your #6 out in the first minute

 

You should really get a mention then toko.

 

Hope you're doing well behind bars mate.

 

Happy Easter to you, WaR & of course to all the loyal readers of the Stifler's Mum thread around the world. Yes, even those of the fine feathered variety.

Shocking result really & a timely reminder of what can happen if you face live opponents while waiting for a title shot. Fundora was the Interim WBC champ & WBC mandatory so he was in exactly the same position as Timmy although further back in the queue. Beaten by a guy who fought a walk-out bout on the Tim v Terrell Gausha show. I think that Russian IBF mandatory & now WBO #1 contender was another who fought one of those walk-out bouts on that show so it's a fine line between headlining on Showtime & collecting the big money & toiling away in anonymity for not much. Look out if that Russian is next in the ring with Tim b/c from his highlights package he looks big, strong & hard punching to me. And plenty tough like he could soak it up. Like Mendoza, he's someone who could take a beating for a while & then land a knock-out drop. Will be interesting to see who fights Tim in June. Don't think it will be Mendoza but it could well be someone who's capable of knocking him off which will make for an interesting fight.

 

Breaking news on the Stifler's Mum thread!

No Limit / PBC are trying to make Tim Tszyu v Michael Zerafa for May. I was actually going to run with that as an April Fool's Day joke a couple of weeks ago but glad I didn't b/c it looks like it's for real. The Zerafa camp has so far said 'no'.

Zerafa would certainly be a good opponent from the Tszyu camp's perspective. Good enough to give him a decent fight but perhaps not pose quite the same threat as some of the other names that have been mentioned here. Interesting also that they are seeking a fight in May. That is presumably to allow enough time for him to prepare if Charlo is ready to go at the end of August.

Looking at it from Michael Zerafa's perspective, he has a world title shot lined up which will presumably be a decent payday. Win or lose that one & a further payday against Tim remains in play. Getting him to the start line next month would presumably require a big financial incentive. The Zerafa camp is asking for a 50/50 revenue split. I'd like to see the fight but obviously it's up to the promoters to make it happen.

 

I never really thought of this one as an option.

Wouldn't really blame MZ for passing in favour of a title shot but it would certainly put a few $100 notes in his bedazzled g string.

 

Reading the article in the Daily Mail, what struck me was that No Limit went and made this offer without the knowledge of Tim.

'This was a world-title opportunity. Tim has the world title after beating Tony Harrison (last month) and it would have been a massive fight for Australian boxing. 'It was in the preliminary stage, we were looking at possible opponents and Zerafa was the one guy on the list.
'Tim wasn't aware of the offer but would have taken the fight no problems ... how much longer can Zerafa keep avoiding Tim?

But agree with the others and dont blame MZ at all for passing this up at this time and focusing on his own world title fight.

 

It's a bit hard to work out what's going on with Michael Zerafa. First, he was fighting GGG in Australia. That would have been an 'event' that the Victorian government would have kicked in for. Then he was supposed to be fighting the Brazilian guy who won a silver medal at the Olympics. They didn't like the way the purse bid was proposed to be run so they pulled out of that. No problem so far b/c there's still options on the table although an attractive feature of the first two options was that the fight would be out here. That gives him the best chance of winning, imo. Then he's fighting Erislandy Lara. That's a good, winnable fight for him. Out here. Next thing we know it's over there. Then we hear he's being offered step aside money so Lara can be matched with someone else in the PBC stable. Which is presumably where the Tszyu fight gets raised as an option. I like the fight for Tim b/c Zerafa is about the same height as Charlo & has decent skills so it would be a good lead-in fight for him. Zerafa needs to do the best for himself of course although I'm not quite sure how an option that involves him fighting over there necessarily fits into that category.

 

Agreed Zerafa is a hard one to figure out. I think he has been a bit bitter at the Aussie scene ever since he got jobbed in the Horn rematch. I think the Tszyu fight will always be there it wouldn't surprise me if they end up fighting 5 years from now. If Tsyzu were to lose to Charlo I think Zerafa would be his best option for a comeback fight but if Tim beats Charlo like I expect then Zerafa is on the backburner. I am surprised that they couldn't get the GGG fight done for Zerafa. I think GGG would have seen it as a nice pay day and a relatively easy fight.

 

Happy Friday lads

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Zerafa has left Sam Labruna too yeah/nah? Did I read that in hear or did I read an article by Victorian media?

 

Australia has had a great boxing tradition. I think if the current organizations had been around in the current form (the WBA was around since the 1920s but it was largely the American Boxing Association and not one with a worldwide view) people like Len Harvey for example would have won worldwide recognized titles and not just "Australian world titles". Also if jet airplanes had been around since then, travel to and from Australia and from other countries would be made much easier for world title fights.

Let me explain: people underestimate the value of the jet airplane for boxing. It was that and a couple other factors which started facilitating the entrance of other countries into world boxing championships. That and the surfacing of the WBC, and the moving of the WBA from the US to Panama, and later the IBF and WBO. The jet cut travel times and expenses subtancially since people no longer had to spend weeks in a boat. For boxers, the jet meant that they could go run and train in the morning, get on a plane and train again the next day at the fight's host city instead of being out at sea for 7 days where they could train at the boat but the promoter probably had to give them an allowance for extra expenses. Cutting that expense also meant that now promoters were more willing to bring challengers from overseas since all they had to pay for is the plane tickets!

Turbine airplanes did cut travel time before jets came along, but the time spent on say, a DC-3 where you had to go Sydney-Auckland, Auckland-Funafuti, Funafuti-Port Vila, Port Vila-Honolulu, Honolulu-Avalon, Avalon-Los Angeles, Los Angeles-Chicago, Chicago-New York on a Sydney to New York flight? was still time and money consuming what with all that flying and also the food and other things consumed. And on a plane like that you could not train so Im not even sure fighters and their trainers were willing to do those trips for a world title fight specially when world championship boxing was largely concentrated on Europe, New York and Los Angeles.

All that figures in when you think about all the past boxers from Australia and to a lesser extent, New Zealand who had the talent to be world champions but because boxing at a world stage was largely a US and, to a lesser extent, European thing, did not get a chance to prove it.

I read a couple of books about boxing in Australia and in New Zealand where they talk about the outstanding, action packed 15 rounders for national titles of the past. For our Australian friends over here, I will point this out: New Zealander boxing writers regard Australian boxers to be at a higher level than New Zealanders. They always say "he went to Australia, where the food was a bit too high for our dog to grab" or something like that lol.

That said, Im thinking about writing to a couple of boxers for autographs like Jeff Fenech and Shannan Taylor, through the Australian Boxing Hall of Fame, sending them an international postal stamp that they can exchange at their post office for an Australian one with which they could answer me. We will see!

 

Neekz Johnson-Scotney has been moved june 10th in London(Scotney 's hometown).

Also on the card Nina Hughes defends WBA belt against Shannon Courtenay.Winner gets unification with Ebanie.

 

I'm almost positive that's the case.

I think it got nasty too and maybe one was sueing the other or some ****.

 

I meant Les Darcey LOL