LISTEN| "It was barbaric" Boxing Great Condemns Handling of Horn Fight

The Australian boxing world is still recovering from last Saturday’s brutal ‘Battle of Bendigo’ that saw 27-year old Michael ‘Pretty Boy’ Zerafa effectively kill-off any hopes Brisbane’s Jeff Horn had of challenging for the WBA Middleweight title. However, it was the circumstances in which the fight ended that have troubled many within the boxing community.

The referee called an end to the fight mid-way through the ninth round, which, in the opinion of many was far too late.

One of those critics of the fight’s final stages was Mark ‘Chopper’ Burgess, a very well-respected figure in the boxing community who was disgusted by what he saw when he spoke with The Rush Hour last night.

“Jeff’s brother Ben threw his shirt into the ring as a towel because he couldn’t believe that no one in the corner would save his brother. That’s how diabolical the situation was, it was barbaric" ‘Chopper’ told Dobbo.

Should this have been stopped sooner? You be the judge

Burgess, who has fought 73 amateur bouts in a career spanning fifteen years and has trained the New Zealand Warriors, Wests Tigers and currently the Queensland Reds, was incredibly worried about Horn’s longevity and risk of brain injury (CTE) after copping another beating.

 “He copped one hell of a beating from Pacquiao, he copped a beating from Crawford…that was stopped in round nine by a sensible referee and now, this Australian, Zerafa, destroyed him...Jeff, it's time to hang them up." 

Hear the full chat below

 Michael Zerafa will join Dobbo when The Rush Hour returns from 6PM tonight