Much-maligned Michael Zerafa has been booed out of Brisbane after forcing a farcical ending to his much-hyped boxing grudge match with Nikita Tszyu.
Furious fans hurled beer cans and water bottles into the ring after the referee stopped the fight before the start of the third round and declared a "no decision" when Zerafa repeatedly told the ringside doctor "I can't see".
"I can't see. My vision was blurred," Zerafa explained after spectators continued to jeer him.
Officials announced the reason for the fight being stopped was an "accidental head butt" near the finish of round two following a series of head clashes during a frenetic opening between the fierce rivals.
"I can't see. I can't see," Zerafa told the ringside doctor before changing his story during his post-fight in-the-ring interview.
"I don't know why everyone's booing me. I didn't stop it, the doctor stopped it. It's not my fault."
Asked what he told the doctor, Zerafa said: "I said it's blurry, but all good. Let's go."
Grilled again on whether or not he said 'I can't see' - which TV captured - Zerafa insisted, "No, I'm ready to go" before calling for a rematch.
"This is boxing, man. Like, let's do it again. No disrespect to anybody, I don't know what everyone's booing for.
"I want to apologise to everybody but I don't know why you are booing. I really don't understand.
"You guys should be getting behind us athletes, whether you love or hate me.
"This is the sport, guys."
Tszyu, though, was not buying Zerafa's excuses.
"Well, what I'm being told at the moment is that Michael said that he couldn't see and he pulled the pin on the fight," Tszyu said after being denied the chance to finally put the Melbourne motor mouth in his place.
"That's what I've just been told. It's what the doctor said, it's what the referee said and, yeah, well, what can we do?
"The fight was getting good. Sorry everybody who came out and expected a 10-round war but, yeah, that sucks."
Tszyu, bidding to finally settle a long-running score, looked on the path to a dominant victory following a spicy and bitter build-up to the domestic blockbuster.
The Tszyu family has made no secret of their lack of respect for Zerafa ever since the Melbourne motor mouth was a late withdrawal from a scheduled showdown with Nikita's older and now world championship-winning brother Tim during the COVID-19 pandemic.
No Limit Boxing boss George Rose also apologised to the packed crowd at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre but appeared a man lost for patience when asked if Zerafa would get a rematch with Tszyu.
"Ask me this question, oh look, We'll talk about it tomorrow," Rose said..
In the main-event undercard, Nelson Asofa-Solomona made a successful professional boxing debut with a thunderous victory over former NRL journeyman Jeremy Latimore.
The super-sized Asofa-Solomona knocked out Latimore with a massive uppercut just two minutes, 22 seconds into the first round.
Earlier, Brisbane home-town hero Liam Wilson stopped Rodex Piala in the fourth round to edge a step closer to what he hopes is a super-featherweight world-title rematch with Mexican legend Emanuel Navarrete.
After being on the wrong end of a heavy right hook to the head in round two, Wilson replied with a thunderous body shot that left the Filipino writhing in pain on the canvas for several minutes.
The doctor was quickly on the scene tending to Wilson's wounded opponent as the 29-year-old Queenslander celebrated his spectacular knockout victory.
"I feel like I'm blessed with that right hand," Wilson said.
