It was a case of revenge in Brisbane, Australia earlier today. Bloody revenge to be exact. Former WBO welterweight champ Jeff Horn, who was upset and stopped by his countryman Michael Zerafa earlier in the year, tuned the tables in a quite incredible fight. Winning the 10-rounder via majority decision, Horn defied Zerafa’s vow to “end his career.”
Now 20-2-1(13) 31 year old Horn came out like a man possessed and though it was close, he made it work for him. 27 year old Zerafa, now 27-4(16) showed fine sportsmanship after losing, offering no excuses.
Horn, always a man looking to throw a lot of punches, came out at the sound of the opening bell with sheer ferocity in his heart. The two slugged out out with Horn’s ultra-fast start shocking Zerafa (and the fans). The two clashed heads in the opening session, with Horn suffering a nasty cut above his left eye. As the action-packed encounter wore on, Horn’s work-rate faded, but this was inevitable seeing how he was doing a whirlwind impression early on. The two exchanged shots, each man scoring their share of points; Zerafa being cut himself in the fifth-round, above his right eye.
Then came the ninth-round; a strong contender for Round of The Year. Zerafa rocked the older man and had Horn hurt bad. Going for the finish, Zerafa was forced to watch as the referee broke thw action to inspect Horn’s bloody wound. When action resumed, Zerafa, all over Horn once again, was sensationally knocked down by a bomb of a right hand that came out of nowhere and landed flush. Zerafa was badly hurt, beating the count somehow. Knocked down again in the sizzling round, Zerafa made it to the final bell. Only he knows how.
In the end, the scores were a crazy 98-90, and 97-92 for Horn, and a tally of 94-94 was also handed in.
A candidate for Fight of The Year also, Horn-Zerafa II was special. Now all-even, will there be a trilogy between these two? Who wouldn’t want to see it?
