Michael Katsidis on boxing, drugs, life and where his career is at...

Part 1

Why the new gym Pro Coaching Academy?

Michael Katsidis: I’ve been all over the world and know what’s good and what’s not good and I’m putting that into here. I was lost for a while. When you lose boxing and you love boxing, it’s your life.: I’ve been all over the world and know what’s good and what’s not good and I’m putting that into here. I was lost for a while. When you lose boxing and you love boxing, it’s your life.

How did the boxing all start?

Michael Katsidis: Since 11 … I watched Rocky from that age and I wanted to be world champion and that’s what I aimed toward. I got to 15 and decided I was going to the Olympics. I went to the Olympics when I was 19 and after that I turned professional. My brother Stathi and I were very determined to be the best at whatever we did. Even if we didn’t win we were happy if we gave it our best and know we gave it our all. Having someone to reflect off the whole time was important. But I was never going to be a jockey like him, I could never ride a horse.

What makes you such a good boxer?

Michael Katsidis: Just natural ability. When you go for the kill you need to be relaxed and I had an ability there … I could remain cool. I cut easy, I have soft skin, I’m not built for that but I’ve got a good jaw so I can take hits. It’s just one of those things. It is mind over matter, it really is. I would beat some guys purely because I’d force my will upon them. Not because of skill … it’s an intelligence factor as well. People would say ‘Oh Michael Katsidis is just a brawler’ but I’m not. You’re in there thinking. When you’re taking shots, it’s like an algorithm. This one, that one, take one, roll, hook, take one, I’d be like ‘OK I’m going to pay for that one, roll’. It’s a rhythm, you’ve got to pick it.”

So Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky movie inspired you?

Michael Katsidis: I lived the Rocky life, the highs, the lows. Even still when I watch Rocky I can’t help but shed a tear. I thought you know what the answer is … just fight and win, fight hard and win money and fame and go forward.

Fight and win and the rest will take care of itself?

Michael Katsidis: Yeah, and what do you do when you’ve done that? What do you do when you are the world champion and are walking around Hollywood Boulevard, undefeated, with millions of dollars in your bank? You are like ‘How great is this. What’s next?’ You are considered one of the most exciting fighters in the world, coming from Toowoomba. That was just before my brother died … sometimes I’m walking around on the Gold Coast now and I’m going ‘I’m so happy in life’ and some people look at my history and they want to try and associate and see similarities (with the negative stuff) but I’m too positive. I really love the Gold Coast. Someone will say, ‘I’m having a bad day’ and I’m like ‘Have you seen the beach today? It’s a great day. Here’s a card, come down to the gym, you’ll love it’.

Tell us about Pro Coaching Academy?

Michael Katsidis: I’ve got a graffiti artist doing a mural of an old sweaty boxing gym. I want that theme all the way through so when people walk in they don’t have this nice air conditioned thing … and not this mentality of I’m going to pay someone to see if they can get me fit. They have got to want to do it, go through blood, sweat and tears and want to work and better their life themselves. That’s what it’s about. I am using what I know to turn it into a business.

It’s a while ago but what was prison like in the early 2000s?

Michael Katsidis: Well it was a character building experience. It’s not how hard you can hit … it’s how hard you get hit and keep going. I don’t really like talking about the negative things in life but the highs do come with the lows.

You would have appreciated it later when walking down Hollywood Boulevard, cashed up, as a world boxing titleholder?

Michael Katsidis: No, I was still just a Queenslander. I’d go to the bad-arse places in the dark, late at night, 3am, having a drink. They shoot you in some of these places if you are white and I’d be like ‘G’day mate how are you?’ and they’d be like ‘Oh you’re an Aussie!’. I didn’t really care, I was just walking around this world blind. I was really lucky.

Tell us about arriving to box in the US?

Michael Katsidis: I’ve just landed at LAX, booked in at Roosevelt Hotel. When I first arrived in America I was yet to win a world title. By the time I went to the US I was 26. I had been in Toowoomba my whole life and then bang, straight to the US and Hollywood Boulevard and I’m like ‘How great is this?’.

You just went on a punt?

Michael Katsidis: Nah, not a punt mate. I knew, ha. I knew. I was confident. I had my trainer Brendon Smith, and he believed in me all the way. Without him it wouldn’t have happened. He had family and left his business to come over and train. I had a lot of energy and I was just spinning in the dust in Australia and doing nothing. I’d already got in trouble once, I was going to get in trouble again. Being a fighter and not going forward in life wasn’t good — so I went straight over to America to have a crack.

You were a mess after beating Czar Amonsot in 2007 in Las Vegas?

Michael Katsidis: Yeah, I got 27 stitches and he got a brain bleed. I was lying in the hospital bed and he was in the bed next to me and he’s going ‘Oh Michael, are you OK?’. The doctors came out and said to him ‘We need to speak to you’ … and I was like ‘I think you’ve got the wrong guy, I’m the one with 27 stitches in his face’.

Regrets in the ring? You had champion boxer Juan Marquez down for the count but lost eventually?

Michael Katsidis: I wouldn’t mind the 10 seconds back after I dropped Marquez. He was one of the pound-for-pound best in the world. I’d got all the way up to Marquez … and then my brother died. There was a media ban on anyone mentioning my brother’s name as I would just break down. I was doing a lot of mental work to block it out. I thought I trained really good considering the circumstances. And then when I dropped Marquez, the commentators were going ‘He’s thinking of his brother!’. I could hear those words and I hesitated as I went for him. Normally I’m a very good finisher. I only needed one or two and he would have been finished. Those 10 seconds are very valuable. Usually I pick my shots and put them away but I just wailed away and that took a lot out of me. That commentator yelling that out at that moment, ‘He’s thinking of his brother!’, changed everything. But they say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Michael Katsidis: Marquez was the best fighter I’ve ever fought. I actually went to his changing room afterwards. I was at the penthouse at the MGM Grand but after I got out of hospital when I had all my stitches — like I usually do — I went to his room and it was like a mansion. I was filthy about it. I thought I had the best place and then I looked at his purse, it was four times mine. I turned over $1.2 million ...$550,000 cash plus TV rights. His was $2.2m plus TV rights. I walked in there and said ‘Look I wanted to knock you out and take your shoes but can I have them anyway please?’. He gave me his trunks and his shoes. He’s a really good guy.

How did your drug abuse start?

Michael Katsidis: It was ice, after my brother’s death, the day he died. I turned up to training too but I also started using and it helped block out my emotions, so that’s what I did. And I wouldn’t advertise that as it would be the first thing someone might turn to if they have an issue. How I made it through that fight … and almost pulled it off ...

How did you get off it?

Michael Katsidis: It’s mind over matter. You see how it screws people up and what it’s doing to everybody. That’s a whole other thing altogether. I was lucky. I had issues from my brother dying and nothing was ever going to stop that happening. Nothing. That was the hardest thing for me to overcome. It’s been a massive thing.

How long has ice been an issue for you?

Michael Katsidis: From that day. It became more and more. You can’t have the things that happened to me and not look for a way to deal with it. Some people turn to alcohol, some turn to drugs, some turn to gambling. I’m clean now. The foundations of where this gym started has shocked a few people as well because they could see where I was going.

 

Part 2

You still think about your brother Stathi often?

Michael Katsidis: Yeah, daily. He was a funny bugger. He lived on the Gold Coast. Occasionally someone will come up to me and be like ‘I knew your brother’. What a great life he had, and great memories. People still think highly of him and have great memories. That was so great. But life has to go on now.

You want a prime time swan song bout in the US?

Michael Katsidis: Why wouldn’t you if you can? If I can go back over to the US and fight Brandon ‘Bam Bam’ Rios, a closing fight against him would be a mega fight. He’s a guy who doesn’t back down, I’m a guy who doesn’t back down. Except I’ll take a knee if I get hurt. Why would I just keep on slogging it out if I’m getting hurt. Now I’m a bit older, I’m smart enough to do it. If it’s too much, it’s too much and I can accept that — but why wouldn’t you? It’s not how hard you can hit, it’s how hard you get hit and can keep going. I love boxing but I don’t want to be the guy who is washed up and done nothing with his life. End up brain dead. I’ve got kids.

Early 2012 you were forced to retire briefly by misdiagnosed brain scarring?

Michael Katsidis: I had a broken eye socket. It healed but distorted the anatomy of the brain when they did a scan. It made it appear like a problem. A deeper scan showed the brain was healthier than a normal person.

How do you feel after all your fights, any lasting effects?

Michael Katsidis: I feel good. I mean, how do I appear? I always ask people about that, tell me if you ever think any-thing is not right because a lot of people kiss my arse because of who I am. But I always want to know if there is something. Just tell me and I’ll hang up the gloves.

 

Amongst fighting Yutthapol Sudnongbua 23-0 on Zac Dunn vs Liam Cameron undercard.

 

Kats was a warrior. Hard not to admire him.

His honesty, even about things most wouldn't want to discuss, also is refreshing.

That he should hang the gloves up isn't even a question in my mind.

 

Those of us who have watched Katsidis vs Casamayor certainly don't underrate it.