Katsidis wins vacant WBO lightweight belt by split decision

By Sam Gregory: The second bout on the undercard of the Mayweather-Marquez fight was a scheduled 12 round bout for the vacant WBO lightweight belt between Australian Michael Katsidis 26-2 with 21 KO’s and Woodland, California resident Vicente Escobedo 21-2 with 13 KO’s.

At the opening bell this fight for the interim WBO lightweight title looked like a jabbing contest as both Katsidis and Escobedo were testing their opponent’s skills. Katsidis is known as a devastating one punch fighter who is able to end a fight with one devastating blow. Escobedo is a very game fighter who fought diligently throughout the fight.

It was clear that the Australian was the bigger stronger man who was able to execute his game plan from the early rounds and not look back. Katsidis muscled his opponent around the ring making it easy for him to set up and land the big solid punches that kept Escobedo at bay through the early rounds of the fight.

By the 4th round Katsidis was winning by shutout on HBO’s unofficial scorecard; Compubox showed he landed twice the punches as his opponent.

Escobedo was a game fighter and by the 5th round he showed good defensive skills bobbing and weaving making it somewhat difficult for his opponent to connect with consecutive punches.

By the 8th round Katsidis was in total control dictating the offensive flow of the fight. Compubox again had Katsidis connecting with a high volume of punches more than twice of that of his opponents.

Between the 8th and 9th round Escobedo’s corner asked him if he wanted to continue; the very game Escobedo elected to continue.

Katsidis continued to apply relentless pressure to his opponent through the ninth and tenth rounds. According to the unofficial scorecard Escobedo only won one round at that point in the fight.

Through the championship rounds it was more of the same as Katsidis cruised through the final rounds. At the start of the 12th round Katsidis landed a big left hook that sent Escobedo reeling back and put an exclamation point on his performance.

After the 12th and final round the fight went t the judge’s scorecards: Judge Mike Fitzgerald scored the bout 116-112 for Escobedo; Judge Robert Hoyle scored the bout 118-110 for Katsidis and Duane Ford scored it 116-112 for the winner by split decision Michael Katsidis.

5 Responses to “Katsidis wins vacant WBO lightweight belt by split decision”