Katsidis: The Next Gatti?

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By Don Stradley

You knew it wasn’t going to end when ringside doctor David Watson was examining Michael Katsidis, even though Czar Amonsot had turned Katsidis’ face into chopped beef. No, Katsidis wasn’t going out that way.

It wasn’t so much that Katsidis has been called “the new Gatti,” or that he’s from Australia, the same island continent that has produced some of the game’s gnarliest brawlers. It’s just that Katsidis has a look about him. You wouldn’t give up on him if he was on his hands and knees in a parking lot while someone was hitting him in the head with a garbage can. His previous fight, a five-round war at London’s Wembley Arena with Graham Earl, saw both fighters on the canvas before Katsidis emerged triumphant.
Knowing this, we couldn’t count him out, even though his left eye was so damaged that he could no longer pick up Amonsot’s right hook. True to form, Katsidis survived the doctor’s inspection, came out blazing in the 10th, dropped Amonsot, and won the fight on points.

“It was a tough fight, but that is the way I like to win them,” Katsidis said. It’s a good thing Katsidis likes it tough, because that’s how it’s been for him in recent years. He’s already faced a prison term, visa problems, and a disappointing stint in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, minimal coverage in Australia, and the frustration of seeing fights with Acelino Freitas and Joan Guzman canceled.

The bout with Amonsot took place in Las Vegas on the undercard of the Bernard Hopkins-Winky Wright pay-per-view at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. Like Katsidis’ bout with Earl, it was a Fight of the Year nominee. The 305,000 PPV customers who bought the event will probably be Katsidis’ fans for life. Now Katsidis’ camp is working toward a December date with lightweight titlist Juan Diaz. That could be Katsidis’ third Fight of the Year candidate within a calendar year. Not even Arturo Gatti did that.
Katsidis, 23-0 (20), is nicknamed “Rocky,” but lately he’s gone by “Michael The Great,” which ties in with the Greek warrior’s helmet he wears into the ring. He has a sense of humor too. “I told you I was bringing some new blood into the sport,” he said, as the claret gushed out of his face. But there was little to laugh about after the fight, as the Filipino was believed to have suffered a brain injury. As Katsidis was stitched up at the Valley Medical Center, he overheard doctors discussing Amonsot’s condition.

“I thought for a while he was on his deathbed,” Katsidis told the Courier Mail. “It was a bad feeling and really emotional as the surgeons decided if they needed to operate on him.” It was reported that Amonsot’s career was over, but since then Amonsot has been given a clean bill of health and may fight again if doctors clear him after a six-month rest.

Katsidis needed 27 stitches to put his face back together. He’d bled so much during the fight that he’d actually stained Amonsot’s bleached blond hair a new shade of pink. Katsidis tried to do what his trainer, Brendan Smith, asked, but when you’re the new Gatti, it’s easier to go right-hand crazy and hope for the best. Judge Ruben Garcia scored the bout 116-110, Patricia Morse Jarman had it 114-112, and C.J. Ross saw it 115-111, all for the blood-soaked banger from Toowoomba, Queensland.

“The fight was definitely tougher than I thought it would be,” said Katsidis, who pocketed about $100,000 for his American debut. “Then again, they are always tougher than I think they will be.”

Katsidis has sports in his genes. His brother, Stathi, is a leading Queensland jockey. His uncle, Eddie Ellston, was a bantamweight who fought regularly at Sydney Stadium in New South Wales. Inspired by his uncle, Katsidis had an exceptional amateur career, winning 75 of 81 bouts and representing Australia in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The Olympic experience was anticlimactic. Katsidis was eliminated during the quarterfinals, and he feuded bitterly with Australia’s boxing coach, Bodo Andreas. Katsidis’ distaste for Andreas’ methods created such a stir that Kostya Tszyu was summoned to straighten things out. The controversy must have been disheartening for Katsidis, because representing Australia meant everything to him. Before facing Earl, Katsidis said he wanted to “remove the bitter taste in my mouth by avenging one of Australia’s greatest sporting losses when Kostya Tszyu lost his world title to Earl’s gym partner, Ricky Hatton.”

Katsidis stopped Earl on a fifth-round TKO, but not before being nailed a few times himself. He dropped Earl twice in the first round, and was hammering him so badly that Earl’s corner threw in the towel, only to have it tossed out by referee Micky Vann. Then Earl rallied and dropped Katsidis with a right hand. Earl put Katsidis down again in the third, before finally succumbing two rounds later.

Whipping Earl made Katsidis the first Australian to wear an alphabet belt at lightweight. But even with his head-banging style, Katsidis has yet to really be noticed Down Under. The bout with Earl wasn’t even shown on Australian television; hardcore fans had to wait and see highlights on youtube.

“Boxing in Australia, to be honest, is struggling a bit,” said Brisbane sportswriter Phil Lutton. “We’ve had fighters like Tszyu, who were obviously brilliant, but on a whole, it struggles.” Boxing is a long drop below the main Aussie sports, like cricket and rugby. According to Lutton,

“Katsidis struggles for headlines. Same with blokes like [Vic] Darchinyan.” Aussie writer Paul Upham told The Ring, “Katsidis’ recent win was the biggest exposure he has had on Australian television. He is still relatively unknown in this country. He is only known to hardcore boxing fans and does not have any real national profile among mainstream sporting fans. Every fight we receive from the USA is only on pay-per-view here, every single fight. It makes it hard to attract new fans. But the way he won over Amonsot will now help him greatly.”

Katsidis has received more coverage for his out-of-the-ring activities. One day after beating Amonsot, Katsidis was ordered by a Brisbane court to pay $10,500 to a man whose jaw he broke in a streetfight nearly six years ago. Katsidis was sentenced to two years in prison in November 2002 after being convicted of causing grievous bodily harm. He pleaded not guilty, claiming he had punched Jamie Thomas Halpin in self-defense. Katsidis was found guilty, lost an appeal, and subsequently served eight months before being released on parole. Katsidis’ legal team even turned up evidence that Halpin had been on a drinking binge, fighting with people other than Katsidis, and urinating on cars. The judge agreed that Katsidis’ action was in self-defense, but with excessive force. Halpin needed metal plates and screws put into his jaw. The conviction has dogged Katsidis for years.
“I acted in self-defense and was forced to go to prison, and I will always maintain that I didn’t deserve that,” he said. “There are people who have killed others and not served time, yet I went to prison and continue to pay.”

Six months of his sentence were spent in Woodford, a high-security facility outside Brisbane. “It was tough in jail, particularly the six months in the high-security section, but I knuckled down and was eventually made activities supervisor,” Katsidis said. “My prison report even said I was a calming influence.”

The sentence may have been stiff, but Katsidis is no angel. The brawl happened while Katsidis was halfway through a yearlong, good behavior bond for punching the bar manager in Toowoomba. Katsidis was also a suspect, but not charged, in a home invasion case where the victim suffered a broken cheekbone and was lashed with a whip. These incidents slowed Katsidis’ career as officials from the U.S. Consulate in Sydney refused him a visa to fight in America. They finally relented in the summer of 2006 when Katsidis’ attorney persuaded Queensland Premiere Peter Beattie to write a letter asking the Consulate to reconsider.

 

Still, sympathy for Katsidis hasn’t been universal. Derryn Hinch, a popular Aussie radio host and author, didn’t shed a tear during Katsidis’ visa battle. Writing about the visa situation on his website, Hinch described it as “another case involving a young Australian who is bleating about the injustices of the world.” Katsidis is hardly the first fighter to have a prison record, but one wonders how his seedy past goes over in Toowoomba, a conservative city often criticized for being a bit behind the times.

“I don’t think his time in the big house dented his popularity up in his hometown,” said Lutton. “Regional towns here, just like the U.S., are pretty parochial and they would probably embrace the local boy made good with open arms should his rise continue. Towns like that don’t spawn world champs too often.”

Toowoomba is ripe for a sports hero. A university city with a population of about 97,000, Toowoomba is known as Australia’s “Garden City” because of its annual Carnival of Flowers festival. There are no major teams there, although for a short time Toowoomba was home to The Clydesdales, the farm team for the Brisbane Broncos rugby team. Katsidis has a good following in Toowoomba, but something tells us the quaint old town might not emulate Lewiston, Maine, the American burg that erected a giant billboard exclaiming, YOU ARE ENTERING THE HOMETOWN OF JOEY GAMACHE.

“We have a thing down here called ‘tall poppy syndrome,’” said Upham. “People who achieve success are closely watched and made to jump large hurdles. The average Joe in the street will ridicule their success.”

Katsidis’ days in his beloved Australia may be numbered, at least where boxing is concerned. At the height of his visa problems, Katsidis told the Courier Mail, “Realistically, I have to accept that my future lies in the U.S. That’s where the money is, that’s where the fights are.”

“As far as he is concerned, once you are inside the ropes it doesn’t matter where you are,” said Smith. “He’s a very level-headed young man. He got great experience going to England with a crowd of 12,000 against him, so coming into a coliseum like Mandalay Bay, it doesn’t faze this young bloke.”

Katsidis was already familiar with America because he trained at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood and at Gleason’s Gym in New York prior to meeting Earl in England. He has said he prefers the rusty iron shed behind the Bronco Motor Inn just outside Toowoomba, where he’s trained most of his life. Training in America, however, gave him a chance to spar with Shane Mosley, who was impressed with Katsidis’ raw power. Katsidis also met Hall of Famer Jake LaMotta.

“Jake LaMotta told me he was the ranked number-one contender for five years before getting his shot at the title,” said Katsidis. “It proved to me that all the hard work and setbacks are worthwhile.”

As long as Katsidis breaks jaws in the ring, and not in the street, everything should be fine.

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