Wayne McCullough watches Joel Casamayor prove his doubters wrong and beat Michael Katsidis.
Although Joel Casamayor doesn't hold one of the major world title belts at lightweight, somehow he is still considered to be the number one guy in the division holding the RING magazine belt.
Cuban Casamayor, who was the 1992 Olympic Gold medalist beating me 14-8 in the final, has been a champion at super featherweight and lightweight. He became the RING and WBC lightweight champion when he beat the late Diego Corrales in October 2006.
His most recent fight was against Jose Armando Santa Cruz in November 2007 in which Casamayor ended up winning a controversial, narrow split decision. He was moved to Interim Champion because he didn't fight Santa Cruz in a rematch choosing instead to face Australian Michael Katsidis who was the WBO Interim Champion.
Knockout
Katsidis was undefeated coming into the fight last weekend with Casamayor. He is a promoter's dream, walking forward throwing non-stop punches and is always super fit. He had KO'd 20 opponents in his 23 fights and usually leaves the ring with bumps and bruises on his face.
Katsidis started fast but without head movement and soon found himself on the canvas not once, but twice inside the first minute. It looked as though the show was going to bed but Katsidis dug deep and went on to drop Casamayor onto the seat of his trunks in round number 6.
He seemed to hurt Casamayor with a hard left hook to the body, winding him as he fell through the ropes landing outside the ring. Casamayor got back up and fought hard.
The end came suddenly in the 10th when a left hook to the chin of Katsidis sent him down. He got up but Casamayor closed the show as the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
Defeat
Katsidis suffers his first loss at the age of 27 but he can pick up the pieces and get himself back in the mix. It is a tough weight class but he is young and exciting so he should make his way back in pretty fast.
Most people thought after his fight with Santa Cruz that Casamayor was done but in this fight he showed that at 36 years of age he is still the best lightweight in the world today.
Hopefully he will stay in the spotlight and try and unify the four major belts.
