A TRULY SOLID NIGHT OF TV BOXING
San Mateo, CA- Boxing fans longing for the blood and guts glory days of Arturo Gatti (40-9, 31 KOs) should not miss saturday’s HBO?s Boxing After Dark main event! Interim WBO lightweight (135lbs.) titleholder Michael Katsidis (23-0, 20 KOs) takes on Ring Magazine and liner champ Joel Casamayor (35-3-1, 21 KOs) in this battle of fistic elitists emanating from the Morongo Casino in Cabazon, California.
IN TWO 2007 ?FIGHT OF THE YEAR? BOUTS
Katsidis, an Australian native and a product of the new ?YouTube.com? age seeing his February 17, 2007 battle with Graham Earl (25-3, 12 KOs) became an instant Internet classic. The bout was an early candidate for ?Fight of the Year? that saw both men hitting the canvas in a give and take war. Die-hard boxing fans wanted to see more Katsidis, thus he set up camp in Los Angeles. Last July 21, Katsidis fought on HBO PPV undercard against tough Czar Amonsot (18-3-1, 10 KOs). Katsidis dropped Amonsot and fought most of the fight with several lacerations and a near swollen shut eye. That bout prompted HBO?s Max Kellerman to declare Katsidis the next action hero! Just like his predecessor Arturo Gatti, Katsidis fought thrilling ?back to back? bouts in 2007.
JOEL?S QUESTIONABLE WIN LAST TIME OUT
While Katsidis? stock continues to rise, Casamayor?s blue chip value is at an all time low. Fighting only once last year, Casamayor was obviously dominated by Jose Santa Cruz (25-3, 14 KOs). Santa Cruz, a fringe contender at best put Joel down in the first round before taking control the rest of the bout. However, somehow Casamayor escaped with a split decision win (the most controversial decision in recent times). Now, the 36-year-old Cuban boxer is an underdog facing the Katsidis buzz saw.
ARE WE TO NEVER COUNT OUT JOEL?
Joel Casamayor has made a career out of proving the doubters wrong and pulling off a win when everyone expected him to lose. Casamayor, a 1992 Olympic champion from Cuba has been fighting at the top level since 1999. In 39 outings, Joel (35-3-1, 21 KOs) has failed to win just four times. In each encounter, Casamayor was a point or two away from coming winning bouts in which he?s cried ?robbery.? Will any of this have prevent Katsidis from blowing away Casamayor in three or four heats, seeing the Cuban will do everything (legal or not) to win. Now that Katsidis has shown he can be cut, Joel won?t shy away from using his head and elbows to tear away at Katsidis? facial features.
IRON CHINED ANDRADE ON UNDERCARD!
Super middleweight (168) contender Librado Andrade (26-1, 20 KOs) takes on Robert Stieglitz (31-1, 19 KOs) on the HBO undercard. Andrade, best known for taking 12 rounds of brutal punishment against Mikkel Kessler (39-1, 29 KOs). And while Andrade was never close to going down and did not suffer major swelling or cuts. Therefore, unless Stiegliz whose appealing record lacks any ?quality or name? opposition, has cement in his boxing gloves, Andrade should take him out somewhat easily. Simply put, Andrade would give any top 168 lb. fighter hell.
PACMAN-MARQUEZ REPLAY ON HBO TOO!
Prior to the live bout, an encore replay of the epic and thrilling rematch between new super featherweight (130) champ Manny Pacquiao faces Juan Manuel Marquez. This presents a second chance to witness two of the best boxers in the world battle in an insanely close 12 rounder. If your desire is to stress yourself out, score the bout ?round by round? if you dare.
DEBATABLE, BUT NOT CONTROVERSIAL?
The fight was too close call from all perspectives. However, the media backlash against Pacquiao and the decision is really uncalled for. Of course, like Pacquiao I am a Filipino. But to say that the decision ?ruined boxing? and is further tarnishing the game, this is a stretch. The uproar against this call has far surpassed the uproar on truly controversial decisions of late like Casamayor-Santa Cruz.
AFTER 12 HEATS I HAD PACMAN BY ONE
Scoring the bout live, I thought Pacquiao won the fight by a single digit. In the close rounds, Manny?s punches were harder and caused more damage to Marquez than Marquez?s punches that caught him off balance while snapping his head back. In my mind, Pacquiao clearly won rounds 3, 4, 9, & 10, while Marquez clearly won the 8th. The other rounds were closely contested and were all a matter of what the individual scorer was looking at. Pacquiao landed numerous clean left hands and controlled the the action for most of the round. However, Marquez landed a nice counter shot that snapped Pacquiao?s head back towards the end of the round. For many this session went to Marquez because he buzzed Manny. However, all three official judges scored the round for Manny.
