By Jim Dower: Lightweight knockout artist Michael Katsidis (25-2, 21 KOs) stopped the hard punching Jesus Chavez (44-5, 30 KOs) in the 7th round tonight at the Frank Erwin Center, in Austin, Texas. Katsidis used his power punching, steady pressure, and superior stamina to wear down the former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion Chavez. After the 7th round, Chavez opted not to come out for the 8th round.
Like always, Katsidis turned the fight into a war early on, slugging it out with the 36-year-old Chavez. Katsidis’ defense looked poor as always, and he took some mammoth shots from Chavez in the first three rounds of the bout.
However, Katsidis fired back with his own big shots and gave Chavez a lot of problems with his work rate. Chavez was cut in his scalp area from a head clash in the 4th round, but it didn’t change the fight any. Katsidis was already having his way with Chavez, tagging him with the bigger shots.
In rounds five through seven, Chavez seemed to fade under the heavy onslaught from Katsidis and began to take increasingly more punishment as the rounds progressed. After the 7th round, which was totally one-sided with Katsidis firing huge volleys at the tired out Mexican fighter, Chavez decided he had enough and chose not to come out for what would likely be additional punishment in the 8th.
Chavez did the better work in the first round, throwing short right hand shots and finding it easy to hit Katsidis. The Australian, who has been beaten twice in his last three fights to Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz, seemed to be reluctant to throw power shots like he previously like to do.
However, the losses to Diaz and Casamayor seemed to have had the effect of making Katsidis wary of letting his hands go like he used to.
Chavez fought well in the first minute of the 2nd round, hitting Katsidis with some big right hands. However, after the first minute of the round, Chavez looked tired and did little in the remaining two minutes of the round but jab. Katsidis trapped Chavez against the ropes in the last part of the round and connected with a couple of big right hands.
Katsidis might have been able to land a lot more punches, but his aim was way off and he missed many of his shots. Indeed, Katsidis had problems connecting with shots all night long for some reason.
Like in the 2nd round, Chavez started off fast in the beginning of the 3rd, hitting Katsidis with hard right hands to the head. I used to think that Chavez was a hard puncher years ago when he was mixing it up against the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr.
However, Katsidis was clearly the much harder puncher of the two on this night, and you could hear the difference when the shots would land. Katsidis’ punches made a big thudding sound when they would connect. The problem is Katsidis wasn’t landing enough to get the full benefit of his power.
Near the end of the round, Katsidis connected with two big right hands. However, it wasn’t enough for him to win the round because Chavez had been consistently good throughout the round. At the end of the round, Katsidis’ left eye was already showing signs of reddening.
Chaves began to slow down in the 4th, looking tired and throwing less punches. Things got even worse for Chavez at midpoint in the round when he was cut in his scalp area by a head butt. The blood dripped down across his face and into his eyes, making it hard for Chavez to see. Katsidis took advantage of the cut by pressuring Chavez and landing some nice right hands.
In the first half of the 5th, Chavez lit Katsidis up with huge right hands as he went for broke trying to take Katsidis out. It didn’t work, but Chavez proved that he could beat Katsidis at his own game, at least for a minute and a half. After that, Chavez was tired and slowed down, letting Katsidis do all the punching in the second half of the round.
The blood from Chavez’s cut seemed to hamper him in the 6th, as he battled most of the round with his face covered in blood like a big red curtain over him. Chavez retreated to the ropes in the last minute of the round and took a lot of hard right hands from Katsidis.
Chavez fought well in the first minute of the 7th, landing a lot of hard right hands to the head of Katsidis. However, the punches had no effect on Katsidis, who took them without backing off, and resumed battering Chavez once he stopped throwing a minute into the round.
In the remaining portion of the round, Katsidis loaded up with right hands and looked like he had a lot more left in the tank compared to Chavez. In between rounds, Chavez chose not to continue fighting and the bout was stopped.
In a scary thought, this win puts Katsidis in position to possibly challenge World Boxing Organization lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, if he doesn’t move up in weight to the light welterweight division to further chase after Manny Pacquiao.
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