By Mark Vester
At the Cebu Coliseum in Cebu City, Philippines, lightweight Michael Katsidis (24-2, 20 KOs) made his return to the ring and won the vacant WBO Asia Pacific title with a ten round decision over Angel Hugo Ramirez (19-5-2, 8 KO’s). The judges scored it 98-87, 96-89 and 96-89. The win was the first for Katsidis since July 2007. He was coming off back to back defeats to Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz.
Ramirez was on the backfoot for the entire contest, trying to survive as Katsidis stalked and threw power punch combinations to the head and body. Katsidis scored four knockdowns in the fight, including three in the fourth round. Ramirez was a bit soft to the gut and could not stand up to the body punches.
Next up for Katsidis is a showdown with former lightwieght champion Julio Diaz (36-4, 26KOs) on April 10 at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in California.
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