Rising lightweight star Michael “Rocky” Katsidis defends his WBO Asia Pacific title against Ranee Ganoy on Friday night at the Convention & Exhibition Centre in Brisbane, Australia on a card promoter by Ringstar. 25 year-old Katsidis is rated No.2 by the WBO and is looking for another impressive performance to propel him towards a shot at the world title.
Extremely strong for his weight, the hard punching Katsidis 17-0 (15) has three knockout wins this year so far and appears to be ready to move on to the next stage of his career. Kostya Tszyu used Katsidis as a sparring partner in his preparation for Ricky Hatton and was very impressed with the Toowoomba resident.
“Boxing is my career and it is my life,’ said Katsidis. “I’ve worked my butt off to get to where I am and I’m within sight of a world title, so I’ve got plenty of incentive of my own. There’s no way this guy is coming up here to take what I’ve worked so hard for.”
The 25 year-old Filipino 17-9-2 (14), who has stopped his last three opponents, including Australian champions Mick Shaw and Allan Luxford, has been predicting a knockout win.
“Ganoy keeps telling everyone he is going to knock me out, well good luck to him,” said Katsidis on Thursday. “He might be able to punch, but he’s forgetting that I’m a better boxer and hit harder than he does. I’m going to be smarter and I’m going to give him a war like he’s never been in before.”
The nine-fight card begins at 7.30pm Two-time Olympian Brad Hore will feature on the card, as well as rising heavyweight stars Baden Oui and Alex Leapai. Tickets are available from the venue or Ticketek.
