Jeff Horn's plans for a potential title shot at middleweight have been ruined thanks to a big upset at the hands of Michael Zerafa.
In the main event of a boxing card in Australia, Zerafa battered Horn for most of nine rounds, eventually stopping him to capture the WBA Oceania title. Zerafa dropped Horn multiple times en route to stopping him in the ninth round.
Zerafa had been landing big shots from the start, scoring a knockdown in the second round. Horn was able to bounce back and hurt Zerafa with a left hook in the third round. Zerafa kept tagging Horn with the left jab and in the ninth round, Horn was unable to counter those jabs and was dropped after a furious combination of punches thrown by Zerafa about two minutes into the round. Horn barely got back up and was quickly met with another series of punches from Zerafa, prompting the referee to stop the fight.
Horn was rumored to potentially challenge for the WBA "Regular" middleweight title currently being held by Ryota Murata, but that was contingent on Horn beating Zerafa. Horn had been fighting at middleweight ever since he lost his WBO welterweight title to Terence Crawford back in June 2018 and in his most recent fight, he defeated Anthony Mundine in the first round.
Zerafa is now on a win streak for the first time since an eight-fight win streak from 2015 to 2018. Zerafa now owns a win over a notable name after losses to Peter Quillin in 2015 and Kell Brook in 2018.