By Jim Dower: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is shooting for November 27th as the date when WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (51-5-1, 37 KO’s) will be defending his titles against WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (27-2, 22 KO’s) in a fight that will likely be shown on HBO. Marquez, 37, was planning on fighting WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan in December for an attempt to win a 4th world title in as many weight classes. However, Marquez has decided, at least for now, to stay at lightweight and defend his title against the smaller Katsidis.

It’s a smart move for Marquez, because not only will he be getting a good payday in an arguably less dangerous fight than the Khan bout, but Marquez will also have a better chance to keep in the running for a third fight against Manny Pacquiao in the future. That is the fight that Marquez and the one where he would get the most amount of money. It’s also a fight that many boxing fans want to see. However, 78-year-old Bob Arum of Top Rank doesn’t want Pacquiao to fight Marquez until Marquez proves himself against welterweights like Joshua Clottey or Andre Berto. Clottey just happens to be one of Arum’s fighters in his Top Rank stable.

But it doesn’t look like Schaefer is going to risk putting Marquez in with a welterweight for the sake of getting a possible shot at Pacquiao. Perhaps if Arum was willing to guarantee that Pacquiao would fight Marquez if he first beat a welterweight, then Schaefer might be willing to put Marquez in with a welterweight but it would be crazy for him to do that now. Clottey isn’t a fighter worth taking on because he has no following in the United States. The Berto would be interesting but he would have a huge advantage over Marquez in speed, youth and size. It’s interesting that Arum is mentioning Berto for Marquez, when Pacquiao hasn’t even been put in with Berto. He’s been matched against slow and stationary fighters for the most part for the past couple of years. Berto would be a very tough fight for Pacquiao right now.

Katsidis is coming off of one of his best career wins, a 3rd round stoppage of Britain’s Kevin Mitchell in May. Katsidis was too fast and too powerful for Mitchell, and basically blitzed him from the outset and dominated him with power shots. It wasn’t even a fight. Mitchell turned around at one point when he started taking punishment along the ropes and looked like a little kid getting beaten up on the play ground. Katsidis defeated Vincente Escobedo by a 12 round split decision last year in September. It was an impressive performance by Katisdis, as he wore down the much hyped Escobedo and punished him with power shots in the later rounds of the fight.

Marquez should have enough left in the tank to beat Katsidis, but that’s not a sure thing. Marquez faded badly in his last fight against Juan Diaz on July 31st. Although Marquez did enough to get a 12 round decision, he looked old in the later rounds of the fight and not the same fighter he once was.