by Geoffrey Ciani – This week’s edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio featured an exclusive interview with reigning WBO interim lightweight champion Michael Katsidis who recently scored an upset knockout victory against Kevin Mitchell in his own backyard at the United Kingdom. Katsidis has been mentioned as a possible future opponent for WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan who systematically outworked Pauli Malignaggi in an impressive victory a few weeks back. Katsidis spoke frankly about his recent victory and various other subjects pertaining to his career and the current boxing landscape. Here is some of what he had to say:
On his recent victory against Kevin Mitchell:
“I was very happy with the result and of course, me and my trainer Brendon Smith, we worked very hard to get that result and of course we’re very happy.”
On whether he thought he would beat Mitchell as easily as he did:
“Well, look, I was very confident coming into it because my boxing has only improved. Over the years I’ve gained a lot of experience and I never underestimated Kevin Mitchell. He is 31-0 and he beat the guy Breidis Prescott who knocked out Amir Khan so he had to be respected. I was prepared to fight for twelve rounds, but of course, when the opportunity was there I took it and got the KO and was very happy about that..”
On what it was like beating Mitchell in hostile territory in his own backyard:
“It’s never been a problem for me. I’m very excited about that, I’m very excited about my boxing. It doesn’t matter where I am in the world where I’m fighting. We’re all in the same ring and we’re doing the same business. There was estimated to be about 25,000 at that fight and they were all cheering for Kevin Mitchell, but they are all very passionate fans and they were cheering in the sport that I love. So all around I didn’t care who they were cheering for. It just gives me more drive and you know, I’ve done it before there in Wembley in 2007 where I knocked out Graham Earl and I’ve been in many big fights in different countries when that’s been the case. It’s not a problem at all and hostile territory is like being in my own backyard these days.
On whether there is any truth to rumors about him squaring off against Amir Khan and if he is interested in such a fight:
“Of course. I think that’s a very great fight with Amir Khan. He’s a promising fighter and of course he’s one of the best out there. He has the WBA world title at junior welterweight and I want to be prepared to fight anyone. So I’m very excited about that fight, of course, and we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
On whether he has ever seriously considered moving to the talented rich 140 pound weight class:
“At the moment I am the champion for the lightweight division and I’ve been honoring my commitments to fight at that weight. My last fight came to a purse bid and I was ordered to go to England to fight. I happily did that and I got the result, so wherever duty calls I’m going to honor my commitments. If that’s where the big fights are, if that’s where it’s going to be then I’ll do it. I won’t be the first fighter to jump up in weight. You know, it’s all fighting and you can mix it up. If you do the work and you have the time to prepare, I think I can achieve pretty much, you know—the sky is the limit.”
On who he would most like t o face in the lightweight division:
“Throughout my career I’ve only had the two losses and I’d like to avenge those losses against Joel Cassamayor and against Juan Diaz. When I had those fights I was relatively new on the international boxing scene. The fight against Diaz was just my third international fight and Cassamayor was my second one. Before that I fought Czar Amonsot in Las Vegas and that was my American debut so I’ve gained a lot of experience now and that’s the most important part for me and I’m very excited about my boxing. I’m very eager to get out there and fight the best in the world so you can put pretty much anyone in front of me and I’m going to be happy to fight them because I have a lot to show and I want the world to see what I’m capable of doing. So I’m not real picky about one fight. I’m one of those guys who will get in there and put on a great war regardless of who it is.”
On his first professional loss against Joel Cassamayor:
“At the start of the tenth my trainer said to me, ‘Look, you’re in front on all the scorecards, don’t go do anything crazy. You’re in front, just cruise through it and you got this fight’. But with a young head on my shoulders and with a little experience, I just want to blast him out of there. That’s what I wanted to do and you hit him with a good shot and you hear the roar and then the adrenaline starts flowing, so that was the experience I gained from that, but I saw something in Joel’s eyes at the beginning of that round. He didn’t want to be there. If it wasn’t that I didn’t stand up so quickly after taking the shot, you know, I did say I would have got the guy out of there. It’s just one of those things that it’s a very valuable experience to be able to take on board. Having done that now, and come back and won the same title again and defended it well, I would hate to be coming into the big fights like I’m coming into now and not have that experience on board. I’m in front of an even bigger world stage now with a lot more to prove. With that experience that I’ve gained, it’s just so valuable and I’m very thankful for it.”
On his second professional loss in his following fight against Juan Diaz:
“I felt very confident against Juan and if you look at the fight it was a split decision and some people say otherwise and some people say yeah definitely, I won that fight. You look at the crowd there on the evening of the event, they were very quiet. There were 18,000 people there in Houston in his own backyard, and things didn’t go my way. You could always say you had a hand injury and all sorts of things but I took that one on the chin and all I could see now is I’m really looking forward to getting in there with Juan Diaz again because I believe it would be a completely different result with the experience I’ve gained.”
On whether he would rather land a rematch with Cassamayor or Diaz:
“There’s no preference. They could come in any order, then of course, there’s Marquez and Marquez has beaten them both. So beating Marquez I’m sort of getting a two in one deal. I’m just very happy to take whatever fight comes my way. Either one of them, it would be good, and eventually I want to fight them both, of course. I would like to get my revenge there.”
On how he would describe himself as a fighter, given other fans compare him to Aturo Gatti and liken him to a real life Rocky Balboa:
“Well, that’s a great compliment to have and thank you. Arturo Gatti was a great fighter and of course, everyone loves the Rocky movies. But I think it’s just about heart. Everyone’s got to show a bit of heart if they’re ever going to go anywhere. That’s what Geoffrey was talking about before when a fighter demonstrates how much he has when he comes from a loss and comes back. That was exactly my goal—to come back just exactly like I’ve done and you want to put on a hard fight and that’s what I do. I fight with heart every time.”
On whether he believes a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao will happen and who he thinks will win:
“Well it didn’t happen the first time and I understand that it wouldn’t happen the first time. I personally believe that it was going to be a bad move for Manny to take that fight because I don’t think he’s fought a slick, agile fighter like Floyd Mayweather before—and I’m not just saying that because I live in Vegas and Floyd’s from Vegas. But he hasn’t fought anybody like that before so that would be a true test. You could never really doubt Manny, also, because look what he’s done—like a lot of people were doubting him when he first went up in weight against Ricky Hatton. I really am sitting on the fence to a certain degree, but I was tending to lean towards the way of Floyd for that fight just mainly because he’s a master of the ring, he’s been around at that weight a lot longer, and of course he’s undefeated, so yeah—that’s where I’m sitting on that.”
On how soon he sees himself getting back in the ring:
“Well that’s just a matter of how badly the promoters put it together, how badly the people want it, and I’m not too sure exactly when the fight is but I know it is going to be soon and I’ll just keep in shape and wait and see what happens.”
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For those interested in listening to the Michael Katsidis interview in its entirety, it begins at approximately one hour nine minutes and nine seconds (1:09:09) into the show.
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