Jeff Horn Avenges His Loss to Zerafa in a Bloody Brisbane Beauty

When Jeff Horn and Michael Zerafa clashed in Bendigo, Australia, on Aug. 31, Zerafa was a heavy underdog. The Melbourne man not only upset the odds, but did it in a dominant fashion. The fight was stopped in the ninth round when Horn’s trainer Glen Rushton threw in the towel. Through the eight completed rounds, Zerafa was ahead by 7 points on one of the scorecards and by 3 points on the other two.

There was a rematch clause in the contract which Horn quickly activated, denying his conqueror a more lucrative fight against Ryota Murata. Zerafa-Horn II transpired today before a sellout crowd at a convention center on Horn’s turf in Brisbane.

“That wasn’t me in there,” said Jeff Horn following his Aug. 31 loss to Zerafa. Indeed, he was very sluggish. The punters, however, attributed his poor showing in part to the fact that he was making his first start as a middleweight. Zerafa, although not a big puncher, was naturally the bigger man. The odds were flip-flopped for the rematch with Zerafa a consensus 7/2 favorite.

Talk about a reversal of form!

Horn, who changed his diet after his loss to Zerafa, overcame a bad cut over his left eye in the opening round – the result of an accidental head butt –- to win a majority decision that should have been unanimous.

All the talk among boxing fans in Australia this morning is about the amazing Round Nine. Zerafa, who had suffered a cut above his right eye and was clearly trailing on the cards, came on like gangbusters and seemingly had Horn out on his feet when the referee called “time out” to have the ring doctor examine the wicked gash over Horn’s eye. He let the action resume and when it continued Horn landed a right hook that landed flush, sending Zerafa to the canvas and forcing him to hold on for the duration of the round.

The scores were 98-90, 97-92, and 94-94. Horn improved to 20-2-1. Michael Zerafa, who hadn’t previously lost a fight on Australian soil, declined to 27-4. He plans to file a protest over the referee’s action which came at a pregnant time in the fight and allowed Horn time to shake off the cobwebs.

It was sweet revenge for Horn, 31, who comes from a white-collar environment but has a blue-collar style, a mauler of the old school as he showed in his signature fight when he won a version of the welterweight title with a controversial decision over Manny Pacquiao, a belt subsequently stripped from him by Terence Crawford. It was thought his career was on the skids after his loss to Zerafa, but it appears that more big fights are now in his future.

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In an undercard bout of note, Horn stablemate Andrew Hunt (6-0-1) pitched a shutout over veteran Czar Amonsot (35-5-3), winning all eight rounds in a welterweight contest. A 22-year-old southpaw of Samoan heritage who is a barber by day, Hunt appears to have a bright future.

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