MICHAEL Katsidis was being interviewed in Las Vegas this week when, suddenly, he stopped the journalist midsentence.
“Are you suggesting I’m shot?” the gritty Toowoomba fighter asked, leaning forward.
“Obviously you’ve seen plenty of boxing, so I wanna know if you think I’m a shot fighter? If I look gone? You’re questioning me about being 31, but Manny Pacquiao is 33, Juan Manuel Marquez 38 … so exactly what do you think?”
If ever you needed someone to revive your faith in Australian boxing, a fighter who, no matter the opponent, keeps coming it has to be this Queenslander.
A two-time world champion who, just 16 months ago, battled Marquez in the HBO Fight of the Year. And yet still like The Riddler with a flattened nose, Katsidis finds himself covered in question marks.
Has done since October, 2010 when the tragic death of brother Stathi began a downward spiral in which he lost three of four fights, split with long-time trainer Brendon Smith and fell into darker places than any rival took him.
“In the 12 months after Stathi died, I fought more times than in any other year of my career,” Katsidis said yesterday from the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. “I thought I could get over his death by taking fights, by training my arse off. It very nearly ruined me.
“But now, I understand that Stathi is dead and that he’s not coming back. I’m not letting the past affect my future.”
Which is why today, against a gritty Ghanaian named Albert Mensa, Katsidis starts again.
Not just in a new weight class, junior welterweight, but with a new trainer, LA-based Australian Justin Fortune who worked the corners of Mike Tyson, James Toney, even Pacquiao.
Importantly, the Katsidis-Mensa fight will also be shown live in Australia on ESPN 2. “And to stop the questioning, to get back on the world stage, I have to win this fight,” Katsidis says.
“I can tell you how the weight class hasn’t suited me. How the fights haven’t suited me. How I should never have fought Marquez so soon after my brother’s death.
“But Aussies don’t want a fighter who makes loud promises – they want one who delivers.”
* Katsidis v Mensa live on ESPN 2 from 1pm Saturday
