Michael Zerafa (27-3, 16 KOs) says he wants to knockout former WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn (19-2-1, 13 KOs) and send him into retirement in their rematch this Wednesday on December 18 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, in South Brisbane, Australia.
Zerafa, 27, was pretty keyed up during Monday’s final news conference. He was upset with Horn’s trainer Glenn Rushton for him talking up his fighter’s chances of winning the rematch. Rushton believes the rematch will see a better Horn, who will avenge his loss to Zerafa in impressive fashion.
Zerafa insists that he’s going to beat the 31-year-old Horn due to him being bigger, faster, stronger and with the longer reach. Zerafa doesn’t think too highly of Horn’s boxing IQ.
Horn could be making a mistake in electing to fight the 5’11” Zerafa again, as he was clearly too small to beat him last time. The problem that Horn has is he skipped the 154-lb division when he moved up weight from 147. Instead of going to junior middleweight, Horn went to the 160-lb weight class, and defeated 44-year-old former WBA super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine (48-10, 28 KOs) by a 1st round knockout last November.
That fight gave Horn a false sense of security that he was fine fighting at 160 despite being small for the division. When he met up with middleweight fringe contender Zerafa, he thought he could beat him. After all, Zerafa isn’t highly ranked at 160, and he likely would be crushed if he fought one of the good middleweights in the division.
Zerafa vows to KO Horn
“I’m going to knock him out,” said Zerafa to Horn at the final news conference on Monday. “I’m going to knock you and your team out. You’re not a middleweight. You don’t have my power. I’m going to knock you out. And I’m ending your f—- career. That’s it. Laugh. I’ve done double what I did first fight. I’ve trained double what I did for the first fight.
“I’m hungry. Jeff is stopping me from moving forward with my career,” said Zerafa. “So for me, it’s a must win. His boxing IQ, he doesn’t have what I have. I’m a middleweight, and I’m strong. I’ve got reach, speed, power. And I’ve got everything, and everything is in my favor. I’ve told this to him, and I’ve told this to his team,” said Zerafa in talking about his advantages over Horn.
There’s a VERY good chance that Zerafa stops Horn again, because he’s too big, and too powerful for him. More importantly, Zerafa has superior stamina to Horn, and that’s how he beat him last time. Zerafa pushed a fast pace against Horn, and then wore him down. By the 9th round, Horn was bleeding badly, and there for the taking by Zerafa.
Manny Pacquiao had Horn close to being knocked out in the 9th round in their fight in 2017, but he couldn’t finish him. Pacquiao’s conditioning wasn’t good enough for that fight to stop Horn. Unlike Pacquiao, Zerafa didn’t gas, and he was able to finish him off.
Michael Zerafa wants to end Jeff Horn’s career
“I want to end Jeff Horn’s career,” said Zerafa. “Now it’s a must win for me. I have to win. Because he’s not on my left, and win I hear this kind of talk, it’s funny. It’s actually funny,” said Zerafa when asked WHY he wants to end Horn’s career. “Let him say what he says.
“All the talk stops. On Wednesday, we go in there and do it all over again in better style. Jeff is a fight, and he’s a warrior. Jeff’s done what I want to do. Credit to Jeff, but to his team? I don’t know.”
Horn lacks the punching power to hurt Zerafa, and that’s the whole problem. He can’t make Zerafa go away, and that means he’s got to hang in there for 12 rounds to try and win. Zerafa showed last time that Horn couldn’t live with him for 12 rounds, and there’s a good chance he’ll show that on Wednesday as well.
Horn likes to get physical with his opponents in coming in head first, but that didn’t work for him against Zerafa. When Horn tried to make it physical Zerafa punished him with hard shots in close. He threw a lot of sustained combinations that was too much for Horn.
Horn plans on letting his fists do the talking
“I’ll respond with my fists in the ring,” said Horn. “I’m nice and relaxed, letting everything fly. Letting the mud hit the walls at the moment. It means nothing until we get in there, and Michae knows that as well. What happens in the ring is what matters. This doesn’t matter.
“I’m excited. I just want to win the fight,” said Horn. “That’s why the rematch was exercised. I want to do this again. I think I can do a lot better than I did the first time, and I’m here to prove it. Look, I’ve had plenty of experience in the boxing world. I’m a London Olympian.
“I’ve been in boxing for a long time, and I know a lot of stuff about boxing,” Horn continued. “They’re obviously going to shake their heads, and say, ‘I know nothing. I can’t change my style. My style works, and I’ll prove that come Wednesday. The weight isn’t an issue. We tried to get him to come down in weight, but he was smart enough to decline,” Horn said about Zerafa not coming down in weight.
It would have been a good idea for Horn to go in another direction instead of taking the rematch. The way that Zerafa beat Horn, it was too one-sided for there to be a chance for the outcome to be different in the rematch.
Horn could have taken two or three other fighters at middleweight before facing Zerafa a second time, but it not have worked well. Horn wouldn’t do well if he fought other middleweights with halfway decent talent. If a fringe middleweight contender like Zerafa can beat Horn, then almost any top tier fighter at 160 would as well.
No retirement plans for Horn if he loses to Zerafa
“I’m sitting around 72, 73 kilos right now,” said Horn. “So I’m not going to stress about making weight. I’m going to come in nice and strong, and I feel like I’m going to be a lot stronger than I was last time. Not necessarily,” said Horn when asked if he’ll retire if he loses to Zerafa.
“We’ll see what the next step in the road is, but I don’t plan on losing though,” said Horn. “I’m hungrier. This isn’t like the last step before a world title that I was offered last time. Michael Zerafa has proved himself. He’s an absolute warrior. He stopped me in the last fight, and I feel like I’ve got a lot more to offer,” said Horn.
With Horn’s popularity in Brisbane, it’s perfectly understandable why he wouldn’t want to retire if he loses again to Zerafa. What Horn needs to do is move down to 154, and try and campaign in that weight class. His stamina will limit his effectiveness no matter what weight class he fights in, but at least 154, he won’t be as overmatched as he is at 160.