Michael Katsidis Wants First Fight in Australia Since 2006

Australian battler Michael Katsidis has lost his last two and has reportedly turned down a July 30 fight on HBO pay-per-view, and now will look to likely scale back a little bit with a fight in his home country of Australia. Katsidis has not fought in Australia since 2006, but has set up camp in his hometown of Toowoomba, which is a change of pace from recent training camps held in Thailand, where Katsidis now resides.

Fightnews.com has this:

"My last 10 fights have been overseas and I think now is the time for me to come back to Australia and bring and bring an international opponent into my country," Katsidis said. "This is something I've been looking forward to for a long time, but until now, the timing just hasn't been right. It's been a tough six months for me personally and I feel it is really important to come home and fight."

Katsidis (27-4, 22 KO) is still a top ten fighter at 135 pounds, but as much a fan of his as I am, it now feels like he's hanging on by a thread as a relevant contender. His four career fights against top-ranked opponents have all been losses (Joel Casamayor, Juan Diaz, Juan Manuel Marquez, and Robert Guerrero), and he wasn't even competitive against Guerrero, and last November found himself overwhelmed against Marquez by the middle rounds.

I was thinking recently that a fight that might make sense later this year would be a rematch between Katsidis and Diaz (35-4, 17 KO). The 27-year-old Diaz plans to return to the ring soon, and their first fight was a bit bizarre with Katsidis fighting with the worst game plan I could think for him, as the physically powerful brawler tried to box the guy who not only had more speed, but can't punch. I think everyone expected that to be a volume punching fight where it would come down to Diaz trying to avoid as many big shots as possible while Katsidis continued to walk through Diaz's offense, but instead much of it looked like Diaz sparring a guy who had been instructed to try blocking and counter punching. Both of those two are at the tail end of their top-flight years if not past them, and could make some money in Houston, plus the winner would probably be in line for another title shot.