02.02.09 – by James Slater – When top class lightweights Michael Katsidis and Joel Casamayor met back in March of last year, the result was a scintillating battle that was widely heralded as 2008’s fight of the year. Stopped and beaten for the very first time in his pro career, Australian Katsidis gave the Cuban great a real argument before being rescued by the referee in the 10th round of their thriller – even putting “El Cepillo” down and through the ropes in the 6th round.
The loss that occurred in California hurt the man known as “The Great” deeply, however, and now the 28-year-old from Toowoomba, Queensland wants a second fight. Returning to winning ways this past Saturday in The Philippines, Katsidis widely out-pointed Argentine Angel Hugo Ramirez over ten rounds, and now he is looking at fighting in front of his countrymen later this year.
Though a fight with former IBF lightweight champ Julio Diaz has been mentioned as a possibility for Katsidis’ next bout, nothing has been confirmed as of yet, reports The Herald Sun.
And Katsidis, speaking to the same news outlet, made it clear he wants to fight in his homeland again (for the first time since June of 2006), and that southpaw Casamayor would be his first choice of foe for the occasion.
“It would be great for me to come back to Australia against a big name opponent and Casamayor would be ideal,” Katsidis said. “We’ve been talking with a major sponsor in Australia about staging the fight either at Boondall in Brisbane, or Melbourne.”
There is no doubt, a Katsidis-Casamayor rematch would be a big attraction anywhere, but an even bigger one in the 28-year-old’s home country. Casamayor, now very much at the veteran stage of his career at age 37, lost his last fight – to Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez – but he’d have to be given a real chance of once again beating Katsidis. And if the proposed rematch were half as good as fight number one, the fans would be in for a memorable night.
This was not the case this past Saturday, however, when Katsidis took on Ramirez. The winner readily admits the fight was no classic, and that he was disappointed with his own performance; even though he did score four knockdowns.
“I really wanted to knock the bloke out and wasn’t so happy with my performance straight after the fight,” Katsidis said. “But it was unbelievably hot, easily the toughest conditions I’ve fought under. Ten seconds in the ring felt like a minute. I’ve watched a replay of the fight and all Ramirez wanted to do was back-pedal after he got hurt in the opening round.”
January 31st did not give us vintage Katsidis, that’s for sure, but a rematch with the man who stopped him, in Casamayor, almost surely would!