Katsidis-Coyle & Campbell-Brizuela tonight

By Boxing News - 10/25/2014 - Comments

coyleBy Scott Gilfoid: IBF International lightweight strap holder Tommy Coyle (19-2, 8 KOs) will be defending his title against 34-year-old former world title challenger Michael Katsidis (30-6, 24 KOs) in a 12 round fight tonight at the Hull Arena, Hull, Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

This isn’t much of a fight in terms of quality, because neither of these guys are world level. Katsidis used to be a world level guy 4 years ago, but he’s far removed from that.

Coyle is just a domestic level guy with a fragile chin, and not much in the way of any kind of power. If he can beat Katsidis tonight it’ll only be because of Katsidis’ advanced age rather than a case of Coyle being super talented.

Katsidis arguably left his prime behind 6 years ago back in 2008 when he was beaten by Joel Casmayor and Juan Diaz. Katsidis stopped fighting in 2012 and stayed out of the game until 2014 when he came back and defeated Eddy Camara and Graham Earl.

Coyle, 25, defeated Argentinian Daniel Eduardo Brizuela by a 12th round knockout last February. Coyle and Brizuela were each knocked down in the fight. Brizuela didn’t have the talent to put Coyle down and keep him there, because he was clearly ready to be finished off.

Even this version of Katsidis will likely give Coyle a lot of problems in this fight with his left hook power. That’s why you’ve got to figure that Coyle will be boxing and moving for the entire fight. You can expect to see a lot of clinching from Coyle just like Kell Brook used in his fight against Shawn Porter. Don’t expect the referee to warn Coyle or take points off for the clinching, because I can’t see that happening.

The winner of this fight really isn’t going anywhere in the lightweight division, because the talent in this division is just so much better than either of these guys that it’s not even funny. That’s way I see it. At best, maybe the winner could get ranked as a fringe contender, but even that would be a stretch.

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Unbeaten lightweight prospect Luke Campbell (8-0, 6 KOs) will be in the ring to fight Coyle’s leftovers in facing Daniel Eduardo Brizuela (26-3-2, 8 KOs) in a 10 round schedule fight. Brizuela has been beaten in two out of his last three fights, so this should tell us a lot about Campbell.

Campbell has recent wins over Krzysztof Szot, Steve Trumble and Craig Woodruff. Brizuela is a huge step up in class for Campbell, and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least to see Campbell hit the deck once or twice in the fight. I still believe he’ll win the fight, but it’s not going to be easy for him because Brizuela is a bigger puncher than he is.

In looking at Campbell’s fights thus far since he turned pro in 2013 last year after winning a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics, I see him having major problems if he ever fights any of the good lightweights like Terence Crawford, Raymundo Beltran, Richard Abril, Omar Figueroa, Jorge Linares, Mickey Bey, John Molina, Yuriorkas Gamboa, or Miguel Vazquez. I see those guys as being far too good for him.



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