Michael Zerafa

Michael Zerafa (born 25 March 1992) is an Australian professional boxer. He held the Commonwealth light middleweight title in 2018.

Michael Zerafa
Zerafa in a 2020 promotional film
Born	(1992-03-25) 25 March 1992 (age 31) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Other names	Pretty Boy^[1]
Statistics
Weight(s)	Light-middleweight Middleweight
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Reach	182 cm (72 in)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	34
Wins	30
Wins by KO	19
Losses	4

Boxing career

Early in his career, he was the Victorian super-welterweight champion.^[2]

Zerafa vs. Magomedov

On 24 October 2014, he lost to Arif Magomedov in his first fight outside Australia when challenging for the WBO Youth and Asia Pacific middleweight titles.^[3][4]

Zerafa vs. Quillin

On 12 September 2015, he lost via knockout to Peter Quillin in his second fight outside Australia.^[5] The impact of the knockout caused him to leave the arena on a stretcher.^[6]

Zerafa vs. Kirima

On 22 April 2016, Zerafa defeated Yosuke Kirima for the IBF Pan Pacific middleweight title.^[7]

Zerafa vs. Brook

On 5 November 2018, it was announced Zerafa would face Kell Brook at the Sheffield Arena on 8 December 2018, in a WBA super-welterweight title eliminator.^[8] He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Zerafa vs. Sherrington

On 12 April 2019, Zerafa returned home to Australia and defeated Les Sherrington via knockout.

Zerafa vs. Horn

He then defeated Jeff Horn for the WBA Oceania middleweight title in Bendigo on 31 August 2019, this time winning via technical knockout. Horn was ranked #3 by the WBA, #5 by the WBO and #14 by the IBF at middleweight at the time.^[9]

Zerafa vs. Ritchie

On 9 November 2019, Zerafa was sparring with Dwight Ritchie when Ritchie collapsed in between rounds after a hit to the chest. Ritchie could not be revived and later died.^[10]

Zerafa vs. Hardman

On 20 April 2022, Zerafa faced Isaac Hardman in an IBF title eliminator at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre where Zerafa would knockout Hardman in the second round.^[11]

World title opportunity

Zerafa was originally slated to fight Esquiva Falcão for the vacant IBF middleweight world title.^[12] However, Zerafa opted to pursue a World Boxing Association title fight against Erislandy Lara, so Falcão is now slated to fight Vincenzo Gualtieri for the IBF title.^[13]

Professional boxing record

35 fights	31 wins	4 losses
By knockout	19	1
By decision	12	3

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
35	Win	31–4	Danilo Creati	UD	10	23 Nov 2022	Aware Super Theatre, Sydney, Australia
34	Win	30–4	Issac Hardman	TKO	2 (12), 1:27	20 Apr 2022	Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Australia
33	Win	29–4	Siliveni Nawai	TKO	4 (10), 2:55	20 Dec 2021	Melbourne Pavilion, Melbourne, Australia	Retained WBA Oceania middleweight title
32	Win	28–4	Anthony Mundine	TKO	1 (10), 2:09	13 Mar 2021	Bendigo Stadium, Bendigo, Australia	Won vacant WBA Oceania middleweight title
31	Loss	27–4	Jeff Horn	MD	10	18 Dec 2019	Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Australia	Lost WBA Oceania and WBO Oriental middleweight titles
30	Win	27–3	Jeff Horn	TKO	9 (10), 2:55	31 Aug 2019	Bendigo Stadium, Bendigo, Australia	Won WBA Oceania, WBO Oriental, and vacant IBF Asia Oceania middleweight titles
29	Win	26–3	Les Sherrington	KO	2 (8), 1:31	12 Apr 2019	Melbourne Pavilion, Melbourne, Australia
28	Loss	25–3	Kell Brook	UD	12	8 Dec 2018	Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, England
27	Win	25–2	José Agustín Julio	TKO	3 (10), 1:46	31 Aug 2018	Croatian Club, Melbourne, Australia	Retained WBA Oceania light middleweight title
26	Win	24–2	Wade Ryan	UD	10	1 Jun 2018	Melbourne Pavilion, Melbourne, Australia	Won vacant WBA Oceania light middleweight title
25	Win	23–2	Adam Harper	UD	12	16 Mar 2018	Melbourne Pavilion, Melbourne, Australia	Won vacant Commonwealth light middleweight title
24	Win	22–2	Tomás Andrés Reynoso	KO	6 (8), 2:58	17 Jun 2017	Melbourne Pavilion, Melbourne, Australia
23	Win	21–2	Renato Oliveira	TKO	3 (10), 2:32	10 Dec 2016	Melbourne Park Function Centre, Melbourne, Australia	Retained IBF Pan Pacific middleweight title
22	Win	20–2	István Zeller	TKO	5 (10), 2:32	13 Aug 2016	Melbourne Park Function Centre, Melbourne, Australia
21	Win	19–2	Yosuke Kirima	UD	12	22 Apr 2016	Melbourne Pavilion, Melbourne, Australia	Won vacant IBF Pan Pacific middleweight title
20	Win	18–2	Gustavo Alberto Sánchez	KO	4 (8)	6 Dec 2015	Melbourne Pavilion, Melbourne, Australia
19	Loss	17–2	Peter Quillin	KO	5 (12), 1:06	12 Sep 2015	Foxwoods Resort Casino, Ledyard, Connecticut, US
18	Win	17–1	Yuttana Wongda	TKO	4 (6), 0:49	27 Mar 2015	Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia
17	Win	16–1	Bruno Carvalho	TKO	5 (6), 1:29	5 Dec 2014	La Mirage Reception & Convention Centre, Melbourne, Australia
16	Loss	15–1	Arif Magomedov	UD	10	24 Oct 2014	Luzhniki Palace of Sports, Moscow, Russia	For vacant WBO Asia Pacific and WBO Youth middleweight titles
15	Win	15–0	Joe Rea	UD	8	27 Jun 2014	Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia
14	Win	14–0	Luke Sharp	UD	8	27 Feb 2014	Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane, Australia
13	Win	13–0	Athit Praditphon	TKO	8 (8)	13 Dec 2013	Club Italia Sporting Club, Melbourne, Australia
12	Win	12–0	Amnat Daengphayap	KO	2 (8)	8 Nov 2013	Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia
11	Win	11–0	Anton Olarte	UD	10	7 Jun 2013	Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia
10	Win	10–0	Richard Kenneth Carr	TKO	3 (6), 0:27	19 Apr 2013	Moonee Valley Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia
9	Win	9–0	Adrian Campbell	UD	10	21 Feb 2013	Melbourne Pavilion, Melbourne, Australia	Retained WBC-ABCO Continental light middleweight title
8	Win	8–0	David Galvin	UD	10	16 Nov 2012	Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia	Won vacant WBC-ABCO Continental light middleweight title
7	Win	7–0	Ariel Omongos	TKO	2 (8), 2:34	29 Jun 2012	Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia
6	Win	6–0	Faisal Fayad	SD	8	11 Nov 2011	Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia	Won vacant ANBF Victoria State light middleweight title
5	Win	5–0	Xingxin Yang	TKO	4 (6), 1:03	26 Aug 2011	Coburg City Hall, Melbourne, Australia
4	Win	4–0	Aswin Cabuy	UD	4	22 Jul 2011	Sunshine Roller Skating Centre, Melbourne, Australia
3	Win	3–0	Jean Claude	TKO	1 (4), 0:45	8 Jul 2011	Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia
2	Win	2–0	David Gall	UD	4	1 Apr 2011	Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia
1	Win	1–0	Peter Makrypodis	KO	1 (4), 1:42	18 Mar 2011	Sunshine Roller Skating Centre, Melbourne, Australia

Personal life

His mother is from Australia and his father is from Malta.^[14]

References

1. "BoxRec: Michael Zerafa". boxrec.com. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
2. Rogers, Andrew; Leader, Hume (5 April 2016). "Craigieburn boxer Michael Zerafa fights for Pan Pacific belt". Herald Sun. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
3. "New Faces: Arif Magomedov - The Ring". 9 December 2015.
4. "Zerafa aims to 'ice' hot Mogomedov".
5. "Quillin stops Zerafa in fifth with powerful right". 12 September 2015.
6. "Update: Zerafa doing well after scary KO". 12 September 2015.
7. "The Voice of the Maltese No. 131". 4 July 2016.
8. "Kell Brook to fight Michael Zerafa on December 8, live on Sky Sports".
9. "Horn vs Zerafa - News, Tape, Ringwalk, TV, Streaming & Tickets". Box.Live. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
10. "Australian boxer Dwight Ritchie dies in a training accident aged 27 - ABC News". ABC News. 9 November 2019.
11. "Michael Zerafa vs. Issac Hardman: Zerafa scores second-round KO victory - Sporting News". 14 April 2022.
12. Rafael, Dan (16 March 2023). "Notebook: 'Zurdo' returns, turns page after being outclassed by Bivol". danrafael.substack.com.
13. Orban, Jonny (15 March 2023). "Kampf um IBF-WM: Mega-Chance für Gualtieri und AGON!".
14. "Michael Zerafa: 'I'm not a stripper; I'm a boxer' - The Ring". 1 September 2015.

External links

Achievements
Preceded by Jeff Horn	WBO Oriental middleweight champion August 31 – December 18, 2019	Succeeded by Jeff Horn

• Boxing record for Michael Zerafa from BoxRec (registration required)
• Michael Zerafa - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live