Casamayor stops Katsidis in 10th round in close fight

by SAMMY ROZENBERG, BoxingScene.com

Updated: March 22, 2008, 11:39 PM EST 31 comments

The fight began with a bang as Casamayor dropped Katsidis in the first round with a left that he never saw coming. Moments later, Casamayor would land a left hook to send Katsidis down for the second time in the round. Katsidis used every trick to make it out of the round.

Casamayor continued the assault in the next two rounds to badly swell the right eye of Katsidis. The fight appeared to be heading in the path of an easy win for Casamayor, or so we thought.

In the fourth, a solid hook to the body changed the entire fight. Katsidis caught Casamayor to the body and then fired off a combination to put Casamayor in trouble. Casamayor hung on to the bell. Katsidis began to apply a lot of pressure for the next few rounds with solid power punches to the head and body to damage the older fighter and often pushed Casamayor against the ropes with aggressive combinations.

During the sixth, a crushing bodyshot once again hurt Casamayor, and then a follow-up combination sent Casamayor right through the ropes. He was able to beat the count, but Katsidis went on the attack to finish him off. Casamayor appeared to be one punch away from being stopped, yet he managed to make it out of the round.

In the eighth round, the fight began to shift once again. Casamayor began to time Katsidis' punches and land well-timed counters. Casamayor was doing well in the ninth when he connected with a low blow that cost him a point.

As the 10th began, Katsidis came out like a bolt of lighting by throwing wild punches, but was immediately caught cold by a Casamayor counter left hook. Katsidis went down like a ton of bricks. He showed a lot of heart getting to his feet.

Casamayor, the cagey veteran, did not let the opportunity pass as he jumped on Katsidis, who appeared to be badly hurt. A barrage of punches quickly forced the stoppage.

Following the win, Casamayor called out Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera.

In less than a month, the face of the lightweights has changed. Nate Campbell's dominating win over Juan Diaz has changed the landscape of the entire lightweight division. Two weeks ago, Campbell dethroned the unbeaten Diaz to capture the WBO/WBA and IBF titles. At 36 years old, Campbell becomes a major player in what is turning out to be a hot division. Casamayor holds a win over Campbell, and didn't appear to show too much interest when asked about a rematch.

Last weekend, Pacquiao unseated Juan Manuel Marquez in a fight-of-year battle to capture the WBC super featherweight title. Following the win, it was announced that Pacquiao would be moving up to lightweight to challenge WBC champion David Diaz on June 28 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The date depends on how long it takes for Pacquiao's cuts sustained in the Marquez bout to heal. If the cuts take longer than expected, the Diaz bout will move to later date.

Juan Diaz is certainly still in the mix. It's unlikely that his next fight will be a rematch with Campbell or any of the top lightweights. He will probably sit back for a few months to recover from the serious cut around his left eye suffered against Campbell.

Another major player on the verge of landing a title shot is unbeaten United Kingdom prospect Amir Khan. Khan has been slowly moving up the ladder in the lightweight division. Khan is still a year away from being ready for a fight with someone like Casamayor.

On the undercard

Hometown fighter Librado Andrade (27-1, 21 KOs) stopped Robert Stieglitz (31-2, 19 KOs) of Magdeburg, Germany, in the eighth round of a super middleweight title eliminator.

Andrade controlled almost every round of the fight with non-stop aggression and power punching. In the eighth, he stunned Stieglitz with a power combination and finished him off with a several unanswered big punches before the ref jumped in to stop the fight.

With the win, Andrade moves a step closer to an IBF super middleweight title shot. The belt is held by unbeaten Lucian Bute of Canada.

Middleweight Danny Jacobs (4-0, 4 KOs) starched Matt Palmer (2-2), dropping him twice before the stoppage in the first round.

Junior lightweight Billy Dib (18-0, 9 KOs) won a close, 10-round split decision over Edgar Vargas (11-4, 1 KO). The scores were 95-94 and 95-94 for Dib. The third judge scored 95-94 for Vargas.

Featherweight Carlos Velasquez (7-0, 6 KOs) won a six-round unanimous decision over Manuel Sarabia (16-23-9, 9 KOs). The scores were 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55.

Featherweight Juan Velasquez (7-0, 4 KOs) won a four-round unanimous decision over Tomas Bernal (3-6, 2 KOs). The scores were 40-36 on all three cards.