last night when katsidis was being interviewed by larry merchant, i was pretty much filled with sorrow for michael, even now i'm finding it hard to stop thinking about it, i really hope 1 day katsidis finally gets his dues and unifies the world titles, but tgoing back to last night after seeing michael getting hit as much as he did by marquez i'm not sure how much he has left, it would be great if he could come to england and perhaps take on some1 like gavin rees in wales or john murray at the MEN and then fight some1 like soto in the summer, but i'm really unsure how much fight mike has left in him, hes been in way too many wars and i'm sure theyv taken there toll on him
He'd beat Rees, I don't think Kat's is gone yet, he's evolving as a fighter and still expect the development to be there. He took a lot of shots which yes will be to his detrement but guys like Murray would struggle with Kats new found boxing ability and in fighting which he did have success with even against JMM. Brenden Smith made a few comments during fight, maybe he saw Michael was mentally tired because of the loss of Stahi.
I dont think the issue with Katsidis is the punishment he's took , its that he just sits half a level below true world class fighters , he's come up short 3 times now in against top level fighters To be fair to him , he should of beaten Casamayor , and if he did his career may of been looking a lot different right now , but he still would of had to run into top operators like Marquez , Soto , Funeka , Guerrero and the likes . And while im not saying Kat doesnt belong in there with them guys its pretty hard to argue that he does when he had his head boxed off by Marquez and Diaz and got stopped by Casa !!! :deal IMHO i think Katsidis will be a world champion , i dont beleive he has what it takes to unify , but one day he'll have a world title ..............
if i had to guide him id be sure he stayed the hell away from guerraro or rios even a fighter like miguel acosta would trouble him, he should fight some1 like a vasquez, jorge linares,john molina or soto none of those guys have anything for him to worry about
I think people need to remember Michael fought one of the best p4p fighters in the world today. Even myself was banking on Juan not being able to go to the well again. The Diaz I fight had me believing. Juan's different from pretty much most of the elite guys today because each fight he leaves blood on the canvas. It's just the way it has to be and sometimes he doesn't completely dominate guys physically but he's so far superior to most and last night he just was to damn good for Kats. Michael showed last night a lot of positives in defeat. He's willing to learn and i've seen the evolution of Michael as a fighter to a thinking man who may still brawl but brawls with a brain now. Jack has posted a superb thread in the GF about his thoughts on the fight and i think this is a key subject and something that i noticed and i think his trainer saw in the middle of the fight. Brenden Smith said as Michael walked to corner in between rounds I think he knew Michael's mind was elsewhere. Michael IMO can become a king at Lightweight. But Juan just wasn't ready to hand over his crown just yet.
He'll be alright it wasn't that bad. He just seems to become a sitting duck against classy boxers late in the fight. Thats where you really want to impose yourself and reap the rewards of the pressure you invested but he seems to tire badly and become ragged. Marquez could have hit him handcuffed at the end. Mentally it will have drained him though. It's the second time he's come so close in a big fight and been stopped late, and with everything thats happened, he's likely a bit down.
he put in his career best performance but it just wasnt good enough. can can be tough for a fighter to take.
He put up a superb fight against the best Lightweight in the world. Once JMM is gone Katsidas takes over IMO, even if it just briefly.