By Eric Thomas: With his win 12-round split decision victory last Saturday night over Vicente Escobedo (21-2, 13 KO’s) on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Juan Manuel Marquez, Australian knockout artist Michael Katsidis (26-2, 21 KO’s) captures the World Boxing Organization interim lightweight title and forces an uncomfortable situation for the 36-year-old Marquez whether he’ll either have to fight Katsidis next for the WBO title or else have the title stripped from him.

Apparently, the WBO is going to enforce the lightweight title match, according to news reports. Katsidis, 29, beat Escobedo by the scores of 118-110, 115-113, while the third judge scored it for Escobedo by the score of 116-112. I personally had Katsidis winning the fight by a comfortable four round margin based on his bigger shots and constant pressure.

However, Katsidis’ work rate deteriorated in rounds 10 through 12, and he landed less clean punches in those rounds. Unfortunately for Escobedo, he had given up so many of the other rounds that he needed a knockout to win.

A fight against Katsidis isn’t likely what Marquez (50-5-1, 37 KO’s) is looking for right now. Marquez is interested in trying to line up a big money fight against Ricky Hatton. That is probably a pipe dream for Marquez, because Hatton is taking it easy right now enjoying time away from boxing.

Marquez is now out of the running for a fight against Manny Pacquiao, whom he had been hoping to fight if Marquez could have beaten Mayweather last Saturday. That fight won’t happen now, so a bout against Katsidis might be the best thing that Marquez can do in the short term.

Previously, Edwin Valero, the World Boxing Council lightweight champion, wanted a fight against Marquez. It’s unclear whether Valero will still feel the same way after Marquez was so easily handled by Mayweather in a 12 round decision defeat. It may take Marquez a little time to get back his status as being one of the best fighters in boxing.

In that case, a fight against Katsidis would be the perfect fight for Marquez, because it would likely be shown on HBO, because they like both Marquez and Katsidis due their entertaining fighting styles. Marquez will need to drop weight if he does plan on moving back down to the lightweight division. He put on nine pounds of muscle to come in at the 144 pound catch weight for the bout with Mayweather.

Whether taking off this weight will have an effect on Marquez is unclear. Taking off muscle sometimes leaves a fighter weaker than they were before, Roy Jones Jr. being a classic example. However, Marquez is probably too small to compete as a welterweight and could have equally tough problems trying to find a place in the light welterweight division.

The best case scenario for Marquez would be for Hatton to fight him. Then Marquez could vacate the WBO title to take the big money fight with Hatton. However, it looks right now like Marquez won’t be able to land a fight with Hatton, and will have to decide if he wants to hold onto the WBO title. A fight against Katsidis would be a very tough bout for Marquez right now. Katsidis has a lot of power and a high work rate.

Marquez hasn’t looked dominating since moving up to the lightweight division and a fight against Katsidis would likely be a grueling affair like Marquez’s fights against Joel Casamayor and Juan Diaz. It would be a bloody affair and might not be worth the cost involved.

However, if Katsidis is the best that Marquez can get under the circumstances, then Marquez will have to take what he can get and fight Katsidis. At the end of the day, Marquez might not get much better than Katsidis before retiring from boxing.