Erislandy Lara and Danny Garcia seemingly don’t have much issue with waiting on a fight date.
That is not all the case for the fighter who stepped aside for that fight to allegedly move forward.
Michael Zerafa has grown tired of playing the waiting game for an overdue title shot. The Melbourne-bred boxer is the mandatory challenger to Lara’s WBA middleweight belt. He agreed to stand down for one fight, with the promise of being prominently featured on the Lara-Garcia undercard and the assurance that he’d get the winner.
None of the involved participants have yet fought in 2023.
“The frustrating wait has just put more fuel in the fire,” Zerafa told BoxingScene.com. “It made me more eager not only to win the WBA world title but to retire either Garcia or Lara. I want America to see what I have to offer and bring new style and charisma to the sport.
“I want the love and backing from the USA and believe when they see me they will.”
So far, they’ve yet to see the streaking contender.
Sadly, it’s been commonplace for a number of fighters under the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) umbrella, whose top content has drastically shifted from Showtime Championship Boxing to Pay-Per-View events in the past year.
Garcia (37-3, 21KOs) has not fought since a twelve-round decision over Jose Benavidez Jr. last July 30. The bout–which marked his junior middleweight debut—was his first since a December 2020 defeat to then-unbeaten WBC/IBF welterweight titlist Errol Spence Jr. The former two-division tiltist was magically inserted in the WBA middleweight rankings, fueling speculation that he would next challenge Lara and likely at a catchweight.
Lara has not fought since last May 28, when he knocked out Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan to defend his secondary WBA middleweight belt. He was since upgraded to full titlist after a failed attempt to land a title consolidation bout with Gennadiy Golovkin. That development created a path for Zerafa to elevate to the mandatory challenger position, after which point a Lara-Zerafa fight was ordered by the WBA.
An agreement was reached where Lara would next face Garcia. The bout was supposed to take place by August 5 according to paperwork provided to the WBA by TGB Promotions. The only update since then was confirmation that Showtime was not running an event on August 5, and whose officials mocked reports suggesting Lara-Garcia was taking place that evening.
Meanwhile, Zerafa has been benched since a ten-round, unanimous decision victory over then-unbeaten Danilo Creati last November 23 in Sydney. His win streak also includes a first-round knockout of faded Aussie legend Anthony Mundine and a second-round knockout of unbeaten Issac Hardman last April 20 in Melbourne.
Next up is supposed to be his first fight in the U.S. since a September 2015 stoppage defeat to Peter Qulliin. The 31-year-old contender is eager to show a new and improved version; those with the power to facilitate have instead kept his career on ice.
“I’ve worked my entire life and dedicated everything to this sport and haven’t come this far to only come this far,” insisted Zerafa. “Come fight night whether it’s Danny Garcia or Erislandy Lara, I will have my hand raised and there will be a new WBA world champion in the division.
“I respect what both have done in the sport but everything in life has an expiration date and there’s is well and truly passed. AND THE NEW!”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox