K A T S I D I S - Go You Good Thing! - G O !

Time for Kats to do some head scratching in the cold light of day and assess where he's going.

As Johnny Lewis used to stress to 'Hitman' Harding, fighters who take as much as they give shouldn't have long careers.

 

Katsidis brave in defeat


by Peter Mitchell - Sydney Morning Herald - April 10th 2011


AAP

Australia's Michael Katsidis was courageous but no match for American southpaw Robert Guerrero in their interim lightweight world title fight in Las Vegas.

The highly-skilled Guerrero, 28, won a unanimous points decision with the three Nevada-based judges scoring the lopsided bout 117-108, 118-106 and 118-107.

The taller Guerrero, 28, used his physical advantage to dominate Saturday night's fight the MGM Grand Casino's Garden Arena, repeatedly thundering Katsidis with straight left hands.

Advertisement: Story continues below After 12 rounds Guerrero had battered Katsidis with 365 blows to the head while Katsidis only connected with 65 head shots.

It was the fourth loss of the Toowoomba 30-year-old's 31-fight professional career.

Katsidis was outgunned but never gave up, attempting to throw heavy punches until the final second of round 12.

Midway through the second round Katsidis hit Guerrero with a left hook, buckling the American.

Guerrero's right glove touched the canvas, but referee Russell Mora mistakenly declined to call it a knockdown.

Katsidis unleashed a ferocious body attack in the eighth round, but Mora stopped the round twice, deducting two points from Katsidis for low blows.

In the ninth round Guerrero had a point deducted for hitting Katsidis with a low blow.

Guerrero, a former featherweight and super featherweight champion, now holds the interim World Boxing Association and World Boxing Organisation lightweight belts, giving him a shot at the division's super champion, Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez.

If Marquez opts against fighting Guerrero and pursues a $10 million-plus mega fight with the world's best boxer, Manny Pacquiao, Guerrero will likely inherit the WBA and WBA belts.

Katsidis lost a ninth round technical knockout against Marquez last November.