By Scott Gilfoid: Michael Katsidis (30-6, 24 KOs) will be taking a step up in competition in facing Tommy Coyle (19-2, 8 KOs) in a 12 round bout on October 25th at the Hull Arena, Hull, Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
The 34-year-old Katsidis has won third fights against lower level opposition since he started his comeback earlier this year. Katsidis will have his IBF International lightweight strap on the line for the fight.
Katsidis was out of the ring for 2 years after retiring. He made his comeback in defeating Eddy Comaro earlier this year by a 3rd round TKO. In his last fight, Katsidis defeated Graham Early by a 12 round unanimous decision last July.
Coyle has a win over John Simpson. However, he was recently defeated by Derry Mathews last years via a 10th round TKO.
Katsidis is a long ways towards getting a world title shot, and at his age it might not be possible unless one of the champions selects him for a fight rather than him working for it. Katsidis is going to either need to stay really busy by fighting every other month or he’s going to need to step it up against better opposition, preferably top 10 ranked fighters.
Just fighting guys like Coyle isn’t going to get the job done for Katsidis. He needs to face top tier fighters in order to get a title shot, and I’m not confident that he’s going to do well when that time comes.
Katsidis pulled off a surprise win in 2010 when he whipped Kevin Mitchell by a 3rd round stoppage. Katsidis’ power was too much for Mitchell, who wilted on the ropes and turned his back on Katsidis. A short time later, Katsidis fought Ricky Burns and was beaten by a 12 round unanimous decision.
I’ve seen that fight at least 5 times, and I don’t see how Katsidis lost. He had Burns pinned against the ropes for 12 rounds just like Terence Crawford did, but the judges gave the fight to Burns instead of Katsidis. I scored the fight 9 rounds to 3 for Katsidis.
“It is nice to be fighting in England again and I am very much looking forward to the fight with Tommy. I have always enjoyed the passion of the fans and I feel at home when I fight there,” said Katsidis via RingTV.com. “I would like to thank Eddie Hearn and Brendon Smith for putting this fight together and I am working very hard in camp at present. I would also like to thank Tommy for putting his hand up to fight me. I have had a number of offers from the UK and I am happy to come to Hull for the fight.”
Katsidis has losses to the likes of Juan Diaz, Robert Guerrero and Juan Manuel Marquez.
This should be a fairly easy win for Katsidis, because Coyle has no punching power whatsoever. He basically wins his fights by out-landing his opposition and he’s never been in with a world class opponent, even aging one like Katsidis. Coyle does have a nice little four-fight winning streak going, but he;s beaten domestic level opposition and not world class fighters.
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