Brendon Smith on Michael Katsidis (1/3): The Early Years and Graeme Earl

Phil D. Jay 
WBN Editor

(Picture courtesy of Brendon Smith)

After a an initial ten-year friendship that blossomed into an eventual training and management partnership spanning another ten years, Brendon Smith parted company with two-time interim WBO lightweight champion Michael Katsidis last week. WBN has spoken to Smith about his time with the rugged Aussie and will exclusively air his view on the relationship in a three-part series starting here.

In this installment, Smith remember's the earlier part of Katsidis's career from seeing the first spark of world championship class in the gym, to his maiden interim world title in 2007.

Katsidis 'The Great' had turned professional in 2002, aged 22 with a third round knockout win over Danny Wilson and in only his second fight, became Australian lightweight champion. He added the 140lb version seven fights later and Smith recalls watching the young talent blossom and pointed out the moment knew he had a top fighter on his hands.

"When I took him to spar (WBA super-featherweight champion) Yodsanan Nanthachai in 2004. It really took him out of his comfort zone for the first time and he handled it very well. I could see he was special from those sessions.

Katsidis would then continue to dominate domestically, stacking up a solid 21-0 record with 19 stoppages and picking up the WBO Asia Pacific lightweight title in the process. His record alone meant he would eventually have to leave his native country in search of a world title and the recognition we craved as a ring warrior.

"Yes I flew to America to set up a training camp for Michael's world title shot against Graeme Earl and knew we would have to fight abroad," explained Smith.

"We then prepped for the fight in LA, then on to New York and eventually England.

"They were the number one and two contenders at the time so it was a no-brainer and Michael had no worries fighting in anyone’s backyard."

With fight taking place on February 17th, 2007 at Wembley Arena, Katsids broke out from his domestic shell and on to the world scene with an explosive performance that left the top contender retired after five rounds of a toe-to-toe battle that is still fondly rememebered today.

Smith and Katsidis left London with the interim WBO lightweight title as part of their luggage and the next stop would be the bright lights of Las Vegas....(to be continued).