By Eric Thomas: If Manny Pacquiao is looking for an easy stay busy fight while he figures out whom he wants to fight next – Floyd Mayweather, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto or Shane Mosley -, he need look no further than top lightweight contender Michael Katsidis that is very interested in fighting him. Apparently, Katsidis, 28, is traveling all the way to Manila, in the Philippines, to call out Pacquiao.
It seems hardly worth it, though, because all Katsidis needs to do is let Pacquiao, his promoter Bob Arum and Manny’s trainer Freddie Roach know that he’s interested in a Pacquiao fight and they’ll put him under consideration. However, given that Katsidis has lost two out of his last four bouts, it’s probably not something that would make him look appealing to Pacquiao at this time.
Katsidis, a onetime World Boxing Organization interim champion in 2007, was stopped in the 10th round by Joel Casamayor in March 2008. One fight later, Katsidis was defeated by Juan Diaz in a 12-round split decision in September 2008.
Katsidis, who is known for his aggressive style of fighting, looked passive in the Diaz fight and fought much less aggressively in that fight than he had in his fights prior to that. Katsidis has won his last two fights since then, beating Angel Hugo Ramirez and Jesus Chavez.
Katsidis didn’t look good in either the Ramirez or the Chavez fight, taking big head shots in both fights. Ramirez, a decent fighter but not a great one by any means, staggered Katsidis in their fight in January 2009. This was a fighter that Katsidis should have been able to destroy, but he struggled in the fight.
Katsidis, ranked #1 in the World Boxing Organization lightweight division, will likely get a shot at WBO champion Juan Manuel Marquez in the near future unless Marquez opts to vacate the title.
With Pacquiao not yet saying who he wants to fight next, fighters like Katsidis see themselves having a faint glimmer of hope of landing a bit money fight with Pacquiao. The chances, however, would seem to be very slim because better fighters like Marquez, Mayweather, Miguel Cotto and Shane Mosley are already in front of Katsidis in line.
One thing that Katsidis has going for him, though, is that he’s very beatable and can be out-boxed or knocked out. Pacquiao appears to want to fight once before taking on the winner of the Marquez-Mayweather bout.
With an important fight against the winner of that being something that will be a huge fight for Pacquiao, he might not want to take a risky opponent like Mosley or Cotto before taking on the winner of Mayweather-Marquez.
Katsidis is like a smaller version of Ricky Hatton, but with less power and poorer defense. This would be a fight in which Pacquiao would have a good chance of winning in the 1st or 2nd round. It would be exciting while it lasted but the outcome would be pretty conclusive with Pacquiao destroying Katsidis.
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