Americans are giving thanks this week for family, good food and good health. Boxing fans might want to throw in a little thanks for HBO, Showtime and a feast of good matchups. They are plentiful and they are all title fights.
Future Hall of Famer Juan Manuel Marquez, 37, defends his lightweight championship in a unification bout against Australian Michael Katsidis in Las Vegas on Saturday (HBO, 9:45 p.m. ET) in a clash of styles that should offer plenty of action.
In the undercard, Andre Berto (26-0, 20 KOs) puts his WBC welterweight title on the line against Freddy Hernandez (29-1, 20 KOs).
Showtime, meanwhile, resumes its World Boxing Classic with a third-round super middleweight matchup Saturday between England’s Carl Froch (26-1, 20 KOs) and Germany’s Arthur Abraham (31-1, 25 KOs) from Helsinki. Both are more brawlers than boxers, ensuring a likely slugfest for the vacant WBC super middleweight title.
The doubleheader (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET) culminates with Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward (22-0, 13 KOs) defending his WBA super middleweight title against Sakio Bika (28-4-2, 19 KOs) in Oakland. It is not a Super Six fight, but Ward, Froch and Abraham are ensured semifinal spots along with Glen Johnson. Those semifinals will take place sometime in 2011.
This was supposed to be the long-awaited matchup between Ward and his friend and former Olympic teammate Andre Dirrell, but Dirrell pulled out of the tournament because of lingering neurological problems after being hit by Abraham while he was down in March. Dirrell won that fight when Abraham was disqualified.
The most compelling story of the weekend revolves around Katsidis, the Aussie of Greek descent who has fought all of his fights in the Northern Hemisphere, far from his homeland, since winning his first lightweight title in 2007.
Katsidis (27-2, 22 KOs) is fighting despite the unexpected death of his older brother, Stathi, 31, a well-known Australian Thoroughbred jockey, last month.
Katsidis has declined to talk about his brother, to whom he was very close, but said in a statement in October, “I have lost my closest friend, my inspiration in life, my one and only brother. … The fight will go on! I will do this for Stathi, my family and myself. … We will fight this fight together. I know this is what he wants.”
Marquez praised Katsidis for going ahead with the fight.
“I really applaud Michael Katsidis’ character for his bravery in fighting after the death of his brother,” the Mexican veteran said this week. “I have the greatest respect for him and wish the best for his family. Everyone knows Katsidis is a strong fighter and a warrior.”
Katsidis’ last four fights have been in London, Las Vegas, Texas and The Philippines. He says he’s OK with traveling the globe to get his title shots.
“America is the boxing capital of the world,” he said this week. “I don’t believe any of the world championships are going to come to my backyard. … If you want something, you have to go and get it. … We haven’t taken any easy fights; we’ve fought the best out there to get where we are now.”
After the first two losses of his career to Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz in 2008, Katsidis, 30, has won four in a row, including an impressive third-round TKO of then-unbeaten Kevin Mitchell in England in May for the interim WBO lightweight title. He says his loss to Diaz was the turning point of his career. He pointed to training in Los Angeles and injuring his hand ? believed to be his right hand? as contributing to that loss.
This time he undertook a grueling training camp in Thailand that he called very, very tough.
The hand still hurts, he says, but “it’s a pain thing that you block out in your mind.”
Katsidis is an aggressive fighter from the opening bell. Marquez (51-5-1, 37 KOs) is a highly skilled boxer and counterpuncher.
While Katsidis declined to talk about his strategy for Marquez, he said, “I’ve had to face a lot of demons in order just to make it to this fight. I’m very proud of being able to get here, and I’m in a position to perform the best I’ve fought in my life.”
