By Ian S Palmer
Michael Katsidis of Australia will be taking on Britain’s Graham Earl for vacant WBU (World Boxing Union) Junior Welterweight Championship this Friday, July 4 in Australia. Katsidis has been on the slide since losing bouts to Robert Guerrero and Juan Manuel Marquez, but is still a crowd favourite due to his give-and-take style. This bout will be taking place at Rumours International in Toowoomba, Queensland and is a rematch of their first meeting back in 2007.
Katsidis has been around for awhile, but he’s still just 33 years old. He’s 5-feet-7-inches tall with a 66-inch reach. He’s been a big draw in his native Australia for several years now and will be climbing through the ring ropes with a record of 29-6 along with 24 Kos to his name. He’s got quite a bit of power as his record shows, but has also been stopped in two of his losses. His last contest was a third-round TKO over Eddy Comaro back on March 14 in a scheduled eight-round fight in Australia.
However, prior to that encounter, Katsidis was beaten in four out of five fights. He’s fought for the WBA and WBO Lightweight titles during his career, but hasn’t been successful. He did manage to win the interim WBO crown in 2007 though when Earl couldn’t continue after the fifth round in their first meeting. He’s been struggling of late and desperately needs a win here to get his career back on track.
The 36-year-old Earl gives up two inches in height as he’s just 5-feet-5-inches tall. He has a similar record to Katsidis as he’s 26-4. However, he doesn’t have as much power as the Australian as he’s recorded just 12 Ko wins. He also has a questionable chin since he’s been stopped in three of his four losses. Earl will definitely have some ring rust to deal with since he hasn’t fought since June of 2009 when he beat Karl Taylor by points in a six-rounder. It was Earl’s first victory in four fights.
Katsidis has fought the better opposition during his career such as Marquez, Guerrero, Ricky Burns, Jesus Chavez, Joel Casamayor, and Juan Diaz, and has been active, so this gives him a big advantage, plus the two inches in height. However, these two went at it back in 2007 and it was a highly-exciting and entertaining contest. Five years is a long time to be out of the ring though and Earl will soon find that out, especially coming back against an opponent as tough as Katsidis.
