Michael Zerafa is enjoying the feeling of being in the most celebrated boxing events that his country has to offer.

The fringe middleweight contender from Melbourne came up big in his latest high-profile fight, scoring a 1st round knockout of badly faded Aussie superstar Anthony Mundine. Zerafa scored two knockdowns, the latter which produced an immediate stoppage at 2:09 of round one in their main event Saturday at Bendigo Stadium in Bendigo, Australia.

It was the first win for Zerafa (27-4, 16KOs) since a 9th round knockout of countryman and former welterweight titlist Jeff Horn in Aug. 2019. The feat disrupted plans for Horn to challenge WBA middleweight titlist Ryota Murata, instead entering an immediate rematch where he was able to outpoint Zerafa later that year.

There is next to no chance of Zerafa having to worry about a second fight with the 45-year-old Mundine (48-11, 28KOs), who immediately announced his retirement after suffering his third straight defeat. Having conquered past legends, Zerafa has now set his sights on Australia’s future stars. First on that list is a desired showdown with unbeaten junior middleweight contender Tim Tszyu (17-0, 13KOs).

"Pardon my French but stop f---ing running," Zerafa said of his countryman, the son of Hall of Fame former lineal junior welterweight king Kostya Tszyu. "It's time to fight. It's the best match up. We’re both number-one in our division.

“[Tszyu] had a four-fight plan that I was in. He's fought three out of the four and he's running scared. He's saying no one wants to fight him and he's picking retired guys and welterweights to fight him. I'm here—I've always been here.”

Tszyu is next due to face former two-time title challenger Dennis Hogan (28-3-1, 7KOs) on March 31 at Newcastle Entertainment Centre in Newcastle, Australia. A win by the rising contender will strengthen his cause to soon challenge recently crowned WBO junior middleweight titlist Brian Castaño (17-0-1, 12KOs), for whom Tszyu is the current number-one contender.

Zerafa will remain an interested observer, if only to continue to apply pressure for a shot at the unbeaten 26-year-old assuming he prevails later this month.

"Stop running,” Zerafa demanded of Tszyu. “Let's give back to Australian boxing. Let's put boxing back on the map."

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox