By Scott Gilfoid: Michael Katsidis (29-6, 24 KO’s) will be facing the rusty 35-year-old Granham Earl (26-4, 12 KO’s) on fourth of July at the Rumours International, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. This is a rematch of their February 2007 fight, which Katsidis easily won in 5 rounds. That loss was the beginning of the end for Earl’s career, as he fought only three more times after that, losing to a young Amir Khan and Henry Castle before wrapping up his career with a win over Karl Taylor in June of 2009.
The 5’5″ Earl hasn’t fought since 2009, and it makes it very difficult to get excited about this rematch given the huge amount of time that Earl has been out of the ring. I mean, I wouldn’t mind seeing the fight just for kicks if Earl had a half dozen tune-up fights under his belt to show that he can beat at least 3rd tier opposition, but that’s not what they’re doing here. Earl is using the Ricky Hatton comeback approach by diving straight into a tough fight without any tune-ups at all. That makes me think this is just a money grab and nothing more.
The fight is like an old timers fight in my mind, because Katsidis is no longer relevant, and has only fought once in the past two years, and you’ve got Earl coming back after a 5 year absence from the ring. Obviously the fight will do well in Australia, but it’s just too bad that they couldn’t have built it up a little bit better by having Earl get some wins under his belt before throwing him into the ring against Katsidis.
Katsidis didn’t look so great in his comeback fight against Eddy Comaro last March. Katsidis got a third round stoppage, but he didn’t look like the same explosive fighter he’d been during his prime. He looked a little bit better in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the fight, so there’s hope that he can improve with the more fights he takes. However, he’s going to need to look a heck of a lot better if he’s going to be able to complete with the likes of Miguel Vazquez, Terence Crawford, and Richard Abril. They need to angle him towards WBC champion Omar Figueroa because he’s someone that Katsidis would have a chance to beat.
Katsidis should destroy Earl without any problems in this fight. 5 years is way too long for someone to be out of the ring, and Earl didn’t look good when he stopped fighting in 2009.
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