MICHAEL ?The Great? Katsidis came all dressed up and ready for war. Too bad Angel Hugo Ramirez had other ideas.
Katsidis spent most of last night?s World Boxing Organization Asia Pacific lightweight battle stalking Ramirez to fashion out a unanimous decision win against Ramirez at the Cebu Coliseum.
Katsidis, who entered the ring in a Roman warrior?s garb, improved to 24-2, 20 KOs, while Ramirez dropped to 19-5-2.
?I have to apologize to the crowd, but he just kept on moving,? Katsidis said of his failure to knock out Ramirez.
Salven Lagumbay and Edward Ligas had the fight, 96-89, for Katdisis, while Edgar Olaos saw it 98-87.
Katsidis was on attack mode in the first two rounds, scoring a knockdown in the second, while Ramirez was content to backpedal and dance around the ropes.
The Argentina-born Ramirez, who is now based on Spain, spent so much time on the ropes that by the end of round 2, his back was filled with red gashes.
Katsidis also got deducted a point in Round 2 after hitting Ramirez while he was down, but got even with another knockdown in Round 3.
Bait
Frustrated with the Spaniard, who was so stingy with his punches, Katsidis started baiting Ramirez by dropping his defense.
The Spaniard didn?t bite.
In Round 4, a left and right to the head downed Ramirez, while another hard right to the head had Ramirez rolling.
Katsidis, who lost his last two fights against world champions Juan Diaz and Joel Casamayor, started hitting the body in Round 5.
In the later half of the fight, Ramirez wasted almost a minute of each round before throwing his first punch, forcing Katsidis to bait him anew.
At one point, Katsidis decided to fight from the corner, to try to get Ramirez to come forward, but again Ramirez wouldn?t fall for the trap.
?His style is very difficult,? said Katsidis.
Meanwhile, in the undercard, all three Pinoys defended their regional belts. Ciso Morales downed Pichitchoke Singmanasak in five rounds; Anthony Marcial stopped undefeated Vacharakrit Senayan in just one round; and Marvin Sonsona defeated Liempetch Sor Veerapol with 44 seconds to go in round 4.
