Las Vegas, Nevada (Mandalay Bay Events Center)—-
At the end of the fight Australian tough guy Michael Katsidis looked like ground chuck.
His left eye was a bloody mess and totally swollen shut. There were no less than three deep slices around his left eyelid and also a gruesome gash underneath his right eye but the fighter who looked like he had escaped from a teenage slasher movie had his hand raised in victory over the dazed Czar Amonsot.
Despite suffering a serious cut over his left eye in the second round, Katsidis rallied and dropped the bleach blonde Amonsot, twice despite fighting with a mug that can best be described as a crimson mask.
With blood splattered all over the ring, on the canvas and on each other, Katsidis repeatedly drilled the native of Tagbilaran, Bohol, in the Philippines with wicked and punishing salvos. By the end of night, there was so much of Katsidis’ blood in Amonsot’s hair that it had turned to a ghoulish pinkish hue.
With the stunning and bloody win Katsidis captured the WBO lightweight interim title and also the attention of boxing insiders who were taken aback by his Tony Zale-like valor and determination.
Judge Ruben Garcia had it 116-110, while Patricia Morse Jarman scored the bout 114-112 and C.J. Ross tallied 115-111, all for the bloody 26-year-old banger from Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
–Red Cross Lightweights–
Katsidis (23-0, 20 KO’s) entered the ring wearing a helmet that looked like it once belonged to Brad Pitt in his role of Achilles, when he was hired gun for Agamemnon. Unfortunately for the 26-year-old Aussie, referee Jay Nady made him remove his headpiece and his profile was prematurely altered.
Katsidis (135) began tattooing the southpaw Amonsot (18-3, 10 KO’s) with straight hands down the middle to open the action but the hard charging Filipino returned fire as both men started trading bombs. Amonsot (135) clocked the Aussie with a right hand uppercut to the face early in the 2nd, and blood began flowing from Katsidis’ nose.
However, with 1:39 remaining in the round, Katsidis, 5’7″, clocked his opponent with a scalding counter right hand to the jaw and dropped Amonsot to the floor. The Filipino’s left knee buckled and he pitched forward to the deck but stopped himself from falling flat on the floor. Amonsot staggered to his feet quickly at the count of two but his legs still looked shaky and there was a dazed and stunned expression on his face.
Katsidis went back to work ripping in hammering shots and the fight quickly turned into a all-out brawl, however, blood began dripping from the Aussie’s left eye. When Katsidis returned to his corner after the 2nd, there was heavy swelling over and under his damaged left eye and a deep cut in his eyelid. Factor in blood that still continued to flow from his nose and it was a given that Katsidis was in for a long night if he wanted to win.
–Nightmare Alley–
Katsidis returned to nailing Amonsot, 5’7 ?”, with searing shots but he also took a pounding in the process and the cuts over his left eye only got deeper and flowed more freely until red rivulets were spattered over his own chest. Late in the 3rd, the fighters traded wicked punches along the ropes and both men landed.
Just before the bell to end the 4th, Amonsot nailed Katsidis with a jackhammer right uppercut to the face and both men threw shots after the bell. Between rounds, Katsidis’ corner struggled to stop the flow of bleeding but they also labored to reduce the swelling in his left eye that was turning the color of eggplant. By the end of the 4th, there were three distinct cuts in Katsidis’s left eye but he never shied away from more combat. To the contrary, Katsidis returned to taking three punches to land one hard shot in the middle rounds but his damaged eye was taking on barbaric characteristics. Late in the 6th, Katsidis jolted his opponent with a flurry of digging body shots and a whip-like left-right combination the thudded off of Amonsot’s jaw.
At the 1:44 mark of the 7th, Katsidis rallied and landed a whistling straight right hand to the chin, followed by a three-punch combination that richochtted off of the Filipino’s skull. The fighters returned to hammering away at each other throughout the 8th, as both boxers took turns dominating their opponent with white-hot combinations to the head and ribs. Amonsot rediscovered his right jab and in the 9th, and blood began flowing steadily once more from Katsidis’ left eye, as the southpaw Filipino connected with riveting shots to the face. At the end of the round a bruise under Katsidis’ right eye had opened up and there was also a savage diagonal cut under his bloody right eye.
The ringside doctor paid a visit to Katsidis’ corner after the 9th and informed his handlers and the boxer that he was giving their fighter yet another round despite all the blood and stomach churning swelling.
With blood pouring out of four distinct wounds and also his nose Katsidis, nevertheless, jolted and hurt Amonsot with a crushing counter right hand to the jaw at the 2:25 mark of the tenth round. Seconds later, Katsidis rocked his opponent once more with a wicked right to the face that snapped Amonsot’s blonde and pink hairdo on end, as sweat and water cascaded from his skull. Katsidis unloaded another volley of no less than twenty hammering blows to the head and he dropped the Filipino for the second time at 2:06 mark of the round.
Amonsot tumbled to the canvas rolling over on his backside but he regained his feet at the count of five while the Vegas fight fans cheered the mayhem. When the action resumed Katsidis immediately clocked Amonsot with a clean right hand to the jaw but somehow the courageous Filipino managed to survive the round.
In the 11th and the 12th, both men returned to hammering away at each other but with Katsidis’ left eye totally shut and still winning the fight on points, he managed to elude several more of Amonsot’s late charges to ice the victory. At any moment one expected for the referee Nady to step between the fighters and halt the fight. Katsidis’s bloody left eye along with the blood from under his right eye was just too much crimson for the Nevada State Athletic Commission, however, they allowed the interim title fight to continue.
At the final bell, Katsidis looked as bad as any fighter imaginable but after 12 rounds they raised his right hand and declared him a winner. Just don’t expect Michael Katsidis to be nominated any time soon to become a member of the Queensland All-Handsome Club.
Undercard: Former top super middleweight contender Librado Andrade (25-1, 19 KO’s) from Guanajuato, Mexico but now living and fighting out of La Habra, California scored a second round TKO victory over Ted “The Warrior” Muller (19-12, 9 KO’s). Both men traded brutal shots in the 1st, but late in the opening round in a fight scheduled for eight heats, Andrade (169) rocked and hurt Muller (174) with five wicked right crosses to the jaw that also cut the outgunned fighter from Moline, Illinois. The 28-year-old Andrade caught Muller with several more sharp right hand to the face and referee Tony Weeks stopped the contest at 1:48 of the second round.
