MICHAEL Zerafa has hit back at the Brazilian world champion who dubbed him “chicken” – and suggested he is running from a lucrative IBF championship showdown – by stressing he is about to shock the world and become Australia’s latest boxing king.

Only weeks after being linked to an Aussie superfight with Tim Tszyu, and stressing he had no less than three world title offers on the table, Zerafa says he is now on the cusp of finalising a showdown with WBA middleweight champ Erislandy Lara.

The news comes after the 30-year-old this week made headlines Stateside when he surprisingly walked away from an IBF middleweight world title fight with Brazil’s Esquiva Falcao.

Zerafa’s US agent Elvis Grant made the call only hours before a purse bid for the championship fight, and vacant title, was due to get underway.

However the move has been praised by many who point out that, once the fight is confirmed, not only is Lara a bigger and arguably tougher fight for the Australian, but the WBA title is almost certainly set to be a more lucrative fight.

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Fox Sports Australia understands Zerafa could have potentially fought for IBF gold in his hometown of Melbourne, and as soon as next month, had he gone to purse bid with Falcao, who is promoted by Top Rank.

Instead, he now enters negotiations to fight Lara for the WBA strap, for which he is also the mandatory and No.1 contender.

After learning of the decision, Falcao immediately took to Twitter and bashed his rival, writing: “I just found out that Zerafa ran like a chicken. Ran from a real fighter to face a 40 year old fighter. ZERAFA YOU ARE A CHICKEN.”

On Wednesday night however, the fighter dubbed ‘Pretty Boy’ contacted Fox Sports Australia to not only reject any suggestion he was pulling out of the fight, but also criticise how the whole ordeal had been reported.

While not providing quotes for print, the fighter did then promise to silence his critics by becoming Australia’s next world champ.

As part of his surprise decision to walk away from the IBF purse bid, Zerafa’s manager also sent an email explaining their decision to not only IBF officials, but a huge list of contacts including rival promoters.

The correspondence was addressed to IBF president Daryl Peoples – but then cc’d to almost 100 other registered promoters including Eddie Hearn, Lou DiBella, and several Australian outfits.

In the email, Grant explained his surprise, and displeasure, at having an extension request for the purse bid denied.

Zerafa was initially locked in to fight undefeated Brazilian Falcao (30-0) in February, after the IBF belt was vacated by Gennadiy Golovkin.

Soon after, Golovkin also relinquished his WBA ‘Super’ middleweight title.

Golovkin had been scheduled to fight regular champion Lara, who was instead made the division’s sole middleweight champ – with Zerafa the mandatory.

Initially for the IBF purse bid, Grant had sought a 30-day extension.

Yet while a seven-day compromise was reached by Team Zerafa and Top Rank – and a new date of March 21 agreed upon — the IBF then informed both promoters it would instead be a March 14 hearing.

Soon after, Grant revealed they would be withdrawing from the purse bid.

Team Zerafa will now turn their attention to Lara, who is represented by TGB Promotion on behalf of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC).

They will have until April 13 to reach terms.

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Only last month, it was revealed a fight between Tszyu and Zerafa was back on the table — and could happen as early as this year – so long as the latter finally won himself that coveted world title.

While Tszyu had previously declared he would never again face Zerafa following his shock withdrawal from their hyped 2022 showdown, the bout is now firmly back on the table.

Of course, Tszyu will first head to the US himself later this year for a massive showdown with the division’s undisputed champ, Jermell Charlo.

With a win, the undefeated Aussie would then have a host of big fight options.

However it is understood he would consider a fight with Zerafa if the middleweight has title belts to put on the line.

In the email sent out this week, Grant wrote: “After, trying to reach you by phone and via text, I come to find out today, the day before the original purse bid date of March 14, 2023 that according to you, Mr. [Carl] Moretti (TR VP of Operations) has reneged on the March 21st purse bid extension.

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“If Mr. Moretti had agreed to an extension until March 21st, I cannot understand, (a) why would the IBF let him break such an agreement, and (b) when would I have ever been informed of this had I not been persistent in reaching out to you regarding any extension past the already agreed upon 7 days that Mr. Moretti had previously agreed?

“What surprises me most about Mr. Moretti’s position is the fact that at no point did Top Rank show any interest in promoting their fighter Mr. Falcao.

“Therefore, reneging on his agreeing to a 7 day purse bid extension is nonsensical.

“Given these unfortunate circumstances, the interested parties that I have been in discussions with regarding the purse bid which was supposed to take place on March 21st after prior agreement by Mr. Moretti, I must inform you that Mr. Zerafa has decided to pursue other options and will no longer fight for the IBF Middleweight Title against Mr. Falcao.”

Grant had also written the request for an extension was necessary “because I had reached out to several promoters who needed more time to put such a purse bid together considering factors such as purse, date to stage event, and venue to stage such event.

“Throughout this time, I had not received official confirmation from the IBF regarding any extension including the additional 7 days that Mr. Moretti had previously agreed to.”