By Rick Reeno
BoxngScene.com was informed by Sampson Lewkowicz, agent for Michael Katsidis (23-0, 20KOs), that a lawsuit will be filed in California by Katsidis and his manager Brendon Smith, against Don King, citing the promoter with tortuous interference with the career of Katsidis, and allegations of acting in bad faith.
Lewkowicz, along with King, signed a good faith agreement on June 2, 2007 in Atlantic City, in an effort to match Katsidis, the WBO mandatory and interim-champion, against WBO/WBA/IBF lightweight champion Juan Diaz (33-0, 17KOs), promoted by King.
Katsidis returned to the ring in July 07, beating Czar Amonsot in a showcase bout on HBO, and then sat on the sidelines for the remainder of the year while waiting for the Diaz fight to materialize. Lewkowicz said despite his best efforts to make the fight happen, nothing transpired, then King made a unification bout between Diaz and Julio Diaz in October 07, and it came to the point where the WBO was forced to order a purse bid in order to push the fight along.
At the November purse bid, which King did not attend, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions placed a winning bid of $1.5 million. Following the news that Diaz signed a contract to fight Katsidis in the headline position of an HBO televised event on February 9, King sent a legal letter to HBO, informing the network of a clause in Diaz's contract which prevents the fighter from participating in any bout where a purse bid is won by a rival promoter. HBO quickly withdrew and the fight fell apart.
"We signed the agreement on June 2 in Atlantic City. He signed an agreement to act in good faith to make the fight with Katsidis and Diaz. He did not act in good faith and was not fair to my kid. He halted my kid's career for months because he has an agenda with his own fighter. He made Katsidis lose months of his career and he's not even his promoter. My kid lost at least $300,000 and probably (future) millions if the fight happened and my kid won," Lewkowicz said.
"Everyone keeps talking about what happened to Juan Duaz, but what about what happened to Michael Katsidis. My kid lost an opportunity too. When he dragged down Diaz, he dragged Katsidis down with him."
On Tuesday, Willie Savannah, manager of Diaz, received an official letter from WBO President Francisco "Paco" Valcarcel, which gave him three-days (from the date of the letter) to accept a fight with Katsidis, or Diaz would be stripped of the title and the sanctioning body would promote Katsidis from interim to full champion.
Because the letter was dated January 3 (making the deadline January 6), and the letter was faxed by the WBO on January 8, Savannah believes the sanctioning body has already stripped Diaz of the title.
Diaz is set to fight IBF mandatory Nate Campbell on March 8 in Cancun, Mexico. Katsidis is slated to face former champion Joel Casamayor on March 22.
