Katsidis eyes Khan fight

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8190176





; Katsidis eyes Khan fight
Adrian Warren
12:17 AEST Thu Dec 30 2010






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Michael Katsidis is targeting a possible April-May return to the ring after his brave loss to Juan Manuel Marquez, with British boxing superstar Amir Khan high on his New Year wish list.
Katsidis earned plenty of kudos for his performance in a ninth round stoppage loss to Marquez in their lightweight world title bout in Las Vegas on November 27, less than six weeks after the death of his brother, leading jockey Stathi Katsidis.
He dropped Marquez in the third round before running out of energy and being worn down by the great Mexican boxer.
A rematch with Marquez is one option Katsidis would like to pursue, while another is a possible move up a division to challenge Khan, the 24-year-old WBA light welterweight champion, who has a 24-1 record.
Katsidis is well know to British boxing fans, having scored exciting wins over Graham Earl and previously unbeaten Kevin Mitchell in WBO interim lightweight title fights in England.
Khan held onto his title with a close unanimous points win over Argentinian Marcos Maidana in another dramatic bout earlier this month.
Katsidis-Marquez has already been awarded fight of the year status by The Ring and American cable television network HBO, with Khan-Maidana voted second in the Ring poll.
"I believe that (Katsidis-Khan) is a fight would absolutely fill anywhere in England, and that's a fight that would be watched all over the world and it makes a great fight," Katsidis' manager and trainer Brendon Smith told AAP.
"Michael is two out of two in England and whether Amir Khan takes that into consideration and whether he wants to try and square up for the Pommies...he may have his own agenda.
"At the moment Michael is taking a little bit of time with his family, of course to grieve, but at this stage we'd like to set for April or May.
"We'll weight it all up over the next few weeks after the break. It maybe back in Australia, it may be England, it may be back in the States, we'll see what makes the most sense for him."
He said Katsidis had pulled up well from his battle with Marquez.
"He had a little bit of bruising around the eyes and a small cut, but he wasn't hurt badly in the fight," Smith said.
"He was just spent emotionally. He did a wonderful job under the circumstances.
"However, I don't feel Juan beat us. We all know what we (Katsidis) had to deal with leading up to the fight."
Smith didn't expect the loss to Marquez to affect the marketability and career prospects of his popular scrapper and if anything thought the performance would enhance his reputation.
"Michael's stocks are going up, he's won a lot of hearts around the world and he deserves it," Smith said.
"He's never in a dull fight and he gives it 100 per cent. People aren't worried with a win or a loss, they just love a great fight.
"He's had a wonderful career. He's won four out of his seven world title fights, he's won two out of three in Las Vegas.
"He's had an incredible run and it's not over yet. I believe he's still gaining and getting better."