At the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez was able to defend his WBA and WBO lightweight titles successfully from the hands of Australian Michael Katsidis.
The match only lasted nine rounds and during the said round, Marquez was able to land 36 punches against Katsidis’ nine. The match referee, Kenny Bayless, stopped the match as Katsidis was already hurt after several combinations.
According to Marquez, “We worked really hard for this fight, and I could tell my body shots were wearing him down… This was definitely the fight of the year.”
Even after eight rounds, the fight judges already found Marquez leading with scores at 78-74, 76-75, 77-74.
Although sometime during the third round Katsidis was able to knock down Marquez, the latter rallied hard and took the lead before he finished off the Australian during the ninth round.
When asked about the knockdown, Marquez said, “I was surprised by his left hand… I didn’t protect myself and I got caught. I knew how to manage the fight with my combinations and conditioning. That’s why I got up so quickly after I got knocked down.”
After the fight, Katsidis was taken immediately to a hospital. He went ahead with this bout, however, despite having undergone the death of his brother, Stathi Katsidis, a jockey, sometime in October.
According to Katsidis, “I always knew it was in the cards to knock him down… But this is boxing, and he has a lot of experience. He was stronger than me, and it ended up getting stopped. I’m not disappointed because I have gone through a lot to get this fight.”
