The Resurrection of Michael Katsidis

By Steve Kim Michael Katsidis’ record currently stands at 27-2 with 22 stoppages but the native of Toowoomba, Australia, who is coming off a third-round stoppage of Kevin Mitchell in May for the WBO interim lightweight title, has a different take on his career. "I’m 4-0 since being married," Katsidis told Maxboxing on Monday evening, of his recent upswing since he tied the knot with his wife, Kumi, following his loss to Juan Diaz. It capped off a 2008 that saw him also lose to Joel Casamayor. Since that point, he has reeled off victories against Angel Ramirez, Jesus Chavez, Vicente Escobedo and the previously undefeated Mitchell. The 2010 version of Katsidis is a more mature, grounded one than the one that stormed into America in 2008 with a string of “Fight of the Year” candidates. "I know that I needed to make a resurrection in my career. Put it this way, other people may not see it; I should’ve walked through Juan Diaz; I should’ve walked through Casamayor," said Katsidis. "Maybe it was the attitude I had with a young head on my shoulders at that stage. But I know I needed to change something in my boxing and I turned my life around, in that respect. Now I’m married and got a six-month old little girl. Life and boxing have become everything to me. This is my work; this is what I do and I think the results showed in my last fight." Katsidis, who- a few years ago- lived in Marina Del Rey and spent plenty of time around the Santa Monica area in Southern California while training in Thailand. He currently lives in Las Vegas. "We had to settle somewhere with the pregnancy and the baby being born," he said of his daughter, Kalia Rose. For Katsidis, where he rests his head at night isn’t all that important. "It doesn’t make a difference; like in the ring, it doesn’t matter if you’re in front of 30,000 people in England, all cheering for the other guy- you’re still in the same ring. And as you know, I’m accustomed to that- fighting in Houston- before. So it doesn’t make a difference to me. We do the same thing we’ve been doing for a long time. We do the hard, rigorous training camps in Thailand and that’s the way it’ll stay." As he went into London to face Mitchell, many had tabbed the local fighter to defeat Katsidis. Once again, London Bridge would come falling down just as it did when Katsidis stopped Graham Earl in 2007. "The difference between that fight and the other fights that I had was I done the work," he explained. "I was more prepared than I’ve been for any of my other fights. We were in a long training camp for that one and, obviously, we got the results. Now, I’ll take into account this Kevin Mitchell, he is as good as the best that are fighting in America at the moment. But it was just showing in the sparring, the work that I was doing. I was sparring with some of the same guys I was using. For example, two of my major bouts I had in America and I was knocking the guys out in sparring. And this was something that wasn’t common of me, basically. I put it down to I had done the hard work. "So we weren’t really surprised with the results that we got and I’m just looking forward to forcing whoever comes next." The Mitchell fight was vintage Katsidis, who hunted down his foe and banged away at him with his heavy hands. Almost immediately, there was talk of a fight with Amir Khan who, later that night in New York, halted Paulie Malignaggi in his stateside debut. Brendan Smith, the manager/trainer of Katsidis said, "We were asked a question on Amir Khan straight after the Mitchell fight. I know Richard Schaefer was keen to put that fight on at the end of July, early August. There was an interest to it; however, I did not think it would ever happen. The reason why was that once before we were asked a question with Amir Khan for his American debut and Freddie Roach (Khan’s trainer) said ‘no’ on that straight away and they selected Paulie Malignaggi. After the Kevin Mitchell fight, I was asked a question again; now it came out all over the media that Amir Khan was very interested in fighting Khan. We had a lot of calls. "I did state very early that as much as there was an interest to it, I didn’t believe it would happen and the money excuse would be pulled because I’m sure, once they watched the Kevin Mitchell fight, the name would be crossed out straight away- Michael’s name- as an opponent. Now look, that’s exactly what I believe has happened," insisted Smith. Katsidis would seem to be a viable candidate to face Khan. While he can punch, the brain trust of Khan, which is mindful of their boxers “shininess,” looks upon Katsidis as not only a bleeder but a blown-up lightweight who would have to go up in weight to face him. It doesn’t hurt that in this era of in-house fights becoming the norm, Katsidis and Khan are both under the Golden Boy Promotions banner. "That’s a big fight; of course, you take it seriously. But I don’t think there was a real serious offer put forth; let’s put it that way," said a skeptical Katsidis. "But I think those fights are a reality . The big fights out there; there are fights against Khan and all those names floating around. I’ve earned the opportunity to fight against these guys. So it’s just a matter of how things pan out." Smith was quick to point out, "The focus was on the winner of Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz," who rematch on July 31st in Las Vegas. "However, that fight was an interest only if the WBO guaranteed it and if Michael was paid accordingly. So that’s where we were with that. We’ll be sitting ringside when Diaz and Marquez fight. They’ve got 120 days to defend against Marquez; that’s it, over and out. So there’s nowhere else for them to go on that." But there is talk that Marquez, should he gore “The Baby Bull” once again, will move up and face Khan himself. "If they do take a fight with Amir Khan, well, they can do it without the belt because we’ll be holding very strong on this," Smith stated. "We cannot force them to step in the ring with Marquez but we can force a mandatory. It’s plain and simple: they don’t take the fight, they will be stripped." Part of their agreement with the WBO forbade Katsidis from taking a tune-up fight which Smith said they had planned to do in Australia this summer. The manager/trainer sees a fighter who doesn’t necessarily work any harder than he did before but one that works smarter. "Mate, its experience and hard work and dedication. Michael’s always been a dedicated trainer. Experience is everything and he’s bounced back better than ever. I don’t believe his career was ever off the tracks. He’s done a great job with everything with the Diaz and Casamayor fights; he’s just getting better and better and we still haven’t seen the best of him yet." Katsidis says that the future will see the greatest of “The Great.” "This is what I’m just thinking about now, is how my boxing has changed. I’m a much more dedicated fighter and I’m putting everything into the training camps now. Basically, it’s become my life. You’ve got a bloke here who now got the experience. You’ve got to put into consideration that the fight I had against Casamayor was only my third international boxing bout in my whole career. It was my second fight I had in the States and then, of course, I had the Juan Diaz one straight after that. So I’ve gained a lot of experience in the last few years and I’m taking all that with me into my next fights. "So I’m a much more complete and confident fighter now."