Michael Zerafa stuns Jeff Horn to scupper Ryota Murata plans in the Battle of Bendigo

The Victorian middleweight (27-3) has stunned Australian boxing by stopping former welterweight world champion Jeff Horn two minutes and 24 seconds into round nine at Bendigo Stadium on Saturday night.

It has thrown Horn's (19-2-1) plans for a December middleweight world title bout against Ryota Murata into disarray - and perhaps even his future in the ring.

Ask the general public and the result is a shock - Zerafa was indeed the underdog and Horn shot to prominence when he shocked Manny Pacquiao two years ago.

But ask the 27-year-old known as "Pretty Boy", and it was anything but a surprise.

For on this night Zerafa was a man in control of his destiny. The sight of the self-proclaimed flat broke brawler in his dressing room before the fight was that of sheer confidence.

He was relishing every moment of the biggest fight of his career. And with a few swift punches, he buried the demons of his past defeats on the world stage.

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Now he is counting down the days until his next shot.

Whether they can strike a deal remains to be seen, but Zerafa has already set his sights on a flight to Japan - because Murata is hunting for an opponent on December 23.

"We want that fight," Zerafa said in the ring post-fight.

"I saw it, I dreamt it. I'm not surprised, I knew it all along. This is electric. It's been the longest journey of my life. I'm still in shock.

"I knew 10 weeks ago ... I could win this fight. I trained three times a day. I knew coming into this fight I could beat Jeff Horn.

"He's just a name. I want to thank him for giving me the opportunity."

Horn concedes the Murata fight was already "in the back of my mind" - and he walked into the ring feeling "off".

It was the same word he used to describe the first defeat of his career, which came the night Terence Crawford stole his WBO welterweight strap in June last year.

Horn was clipped and momentarily met the canvas in the second round before battling back into the contest. It would prove too little, too late.

The 31-year-old was dropped again in the ninth and, realistically, the bout should have been stopped by his trainer Glenn Rushton.

But Horn was sent back into battle and from there it was just a matter of seconds before Zerafa closed the show.

Now clouds of doubt hover over his future in the ring - if not at least hit future at middleweight.

"I have to reassess and talk to my boss, that's Jo, my wife," Horn said.

"We've got rematch clauses. I felt like crap just then. You could see it wasn't myself. It wasn't my fight tonight.

"I'm fine, I'm just a bit shattered. I've had some ups and downs, this is definitely a down in my career. I've got to bounce back.

"I felt sluggish, I just felt like crap. Well done to Michael, he outboxed me. I don't feel like it was the best me in there tonight.

"I just didn't feel like the right me."

What comes next will remain a source of intrigue. Is it Zerafa? Can they still secure a now unlikely deal with Murata? Or could it be an all-Australian showdown with Tim Tszyu?

Meanwhile, Canberra's Bianca Elmir (3-1) was on the wrong end of a controversial split decision loss (56-57, 58-55, 59-54) to Shannon O'Connell (18-6-1) in a super bantamweight bout.