Phil D. Jay
WBN Editor
WBN Editor
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| (Picture by Chris Cozzone) |
Aussie suffers fourth defeat in five bouts
Former two-time interim world lightweight champion Michael
Katsidis is facing a tough decision following a majority decision defeat to
Ghanaian Albert Mensah at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.
The 31 year-old, who was fighting out of his US-base for the
first time, was out-worked and out-thought by the younger Mensah as he dropped
his sixth career loss in his 34th professional contest.
Mensah, 29, was seen as a stepping stone to another world
title opportunity by many, although a loss was unthinkable to Katsidis, who was
contemplating retirement on the back of his loss to Scotland’s Ricky Burns last
time out.
After ten bruising rounds of Katsidis fighting the only way
he knows, Mensah built up a healthy lead on my card with his ability to adjust
and change tactics, whilst the one-dimensional Australian became more desperate
as the rounds went by.
The judges came back with cards of 98-92, 96-94 and 95-95 to
give Mensah a career-best victory, whilst I had the bout 97-93 and there could
be no argument over the result of the contest as Katsidis just didn’t do
enough.
‘The Great’ now has a huge resolution to reach in the coming
weeks after his move to an American base and decision to leave long-time trainer Brendon Smith has seemingly backfired and has not ironed out the mistakes made
in previous defeats over the past 18 months.
I am afraid it may be the end of the road
for the fighting warrior from Toowoomba.