Michael Katsidis to Sign Graham Earl Rematch

Michael Katsidis' team has confirmed that the Australian brawler will rematch Graham Earl in Australia for his next fight.

"Earl has been chasing this since we walked out of the ring 4 years ago" Katsidis's manager Brendon Smith today said "he has shown up at press conferences, and even tried to enter our training camp in Thailand in the lead up to the Juan Manuel Marquez title fight to issue a challenge... we did promise him the rematch, and now his wish has been granted and what an amazing fight it will be for Australia."

When Katsidis was asked what he thought of the fight being confirmed, he responded with "Graham is one tough man, it will definitely be a war, and I love a war... when we met in '07 we exchanged a lot of punches, he went down, I went down, It will be on again, I will have to be in my best shape for this battle. From the day we embraced each other and agreed for a rematch, he has chased me and now I will honour my commitment to Graham Earl, and give him the rematch he has been seeking."

Katsidis (27-4, 22 KO) and Earl (26-4, 12 KO) fought in 2007, and it was a hell of a fight indeed. But Earl lost his punch resistance and hasn't fought since 2009, winning a farewell fight in his hometown against a guy who had 125 losses. That win followed back-to-back TKO-1 losses to Amir Khan and Henry Castle.

Since beating Earl, Katsidis has gone 5-4 with a really tough schedule, beating some would-be contenders and losing against the top contenders he's faced, and dropping a pair of shots at reigning lightweight champions Joel Casamayor and Juan Manuel Marquez.

It's basically a get-well fight with a backstory. There's no getting around it. There are dozens of active fighters who would be a better fight for Katsidis than Earl is anymore.

No date has been finalized.