DE LA HOYA PROMISES KATSIDIS, JUDGES WILL BE FAIR
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 06 Sep 2008
?The Golden Boy? Oscar De La Hoya has promised Australia?s Michael Katsidis that the judges chosen for his fight against hometown hero Juan ?Baby Bull? Diaz will be fair in their IBO lightweight title fight in Houston, Texas on Sunday, Manila Time.
De La Hoya reportedly stepped in to assure Katsidis of a fair shake when it was noted that two of the officials were Diaz? fellow Texans, one of whom is referee Laurence Cole who was actually suspended earlier this year for telling a fighter he was ahead on points during a fight.
During a final pre-fight press conference the trainer/manager of Katsidis ? Brendon Smith - said he wasn?t worried about who the officials were. Sports Nut, the Australian website quoted Smith as saying ?the judges will be judged by the boxing fraternity and the millions of HBO viewers.?
Diaz is promoted by De La Hoya?s Golden Boy Promotions and according to Smith the six-time world champion assured him that there would be no problems and that they were ?very fair promoters and the Texas Commission was a very fair group.?
Katsidis said earlier he was ?a lion entering the lion?s den? in reference to Diaz who is from Houston and is certain to get the full backing of an expected crowd of 10,000 at the Toyota Center.
Katsidis appeared to be on the threshold of winning against former Cuban Olympic gold medalist Joel Casamayor when he left himself open and went in for the kill only to get nailed by the 37 year old southpaw and lost by a 10th round TKO..
Diaz on the other hand lost the three titles he held to another veteran, 36 year old Nate Campbell by a split decision.
Filipino fight fans remember Katsidis as the fighter who engaged southpaw Czar Amonsot in a bloody brawl for the WBO Interim title in July 2007 which ended the career of Amonsot when doctors detected a tiny speck of blood in his brain in a post fight examination in Las Vegas .
They also remember Diaz who scored a 9th round TKO victory over Randy Suico in a WBA lightweight title fight in July 2006.
The fight card which includes an attractive supporting bout between Rocky Juarez and Jorge Barrios will be telecast by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN over Channel 2 beginning at 1o:00 a.m. with a replay at 10:30 p.m.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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