BoxRec

Press Release
Katsidis v Earl Verbal!

For Immediate Release

Katsidis the great Promotions in association with Smithy’s Gym
are proud to announce, that the Fight of the Year rematch
between two time world champion Michael Katsidis and former
world champion Graham Earl has been verbally agreed to.

At 2am this morning Katsidis Manager Brendon Smith finalized
details with Graham Earl’s camp to have a fight downunder.
Graham Earl and his team have been chasing the Katsidis’ camp
for close to 4 years now on the promise of a rematch after their
epic five round World title battle at Wembley Arena in London in 2007. In a fight that was full of action,
Katsidis not only came out the victor, but this battle was awarded the coveted round and fight of the
year, most critics also deemed it to be the fight of the decade.

“Earl has been chasing this since we walked out of the ring 4 years ago” Katsidis’s manager Brendon
Smith today said “he has shown up at press conferences, and even tried to enter our training camp in
Thailand in the lead up to the Juan Manuel Marquez title fight to issue a challenge... we did promise him
the rematch, and now his wish has been granted and what an amazing fight it will be for Australia.”

When Katsidis was asked what he thought of the fight being confirmed, he responded with “Graham is
one tough man, it will definitely be a war, and I love a war... when we met in ‘07’ we exchanged a lot of
punches, he went down, I went down, It will be on again, I will have to be in my best shape for this
battle. From the day we embraced each other and agreed for a rematch, he has chased me and now I
will honour my commitment to Graham Earl, and give him the rematch he has been seeking”

Katsidis will be making a special guest commentary appearance on Fox’s Friday night fight’s from the
Greek club in Brisbane this Friday, this will be the first guest appearance he has made since returning
from a 4 year stint in the USA, Katsidis said “I’m happy to be involved on a local level again, we will be

Poor Early will likely suffer a serious beating at the hands of Katsidis.

yea cant see anything but very early stopage on this one

Earl has looked out of it since the last Katsidas fight

he was a shell of the man against amir khan

Katsidas has got better since the first earl fight too i would say

There is a serious side to this.
Earl is being dellusional if he thinks he's any chance, and in my humble opinion it is downright dangerous.
What are his team thinking, seriously ?
Personally I hope the fight doesn't happen.

Oh dear.

twenty six wrote: in my humble opinion it is downright dangerous.
What are his team thinking, seriously ?
Personally I hope the fight doesn't happen.

Agree 100%. If this fight happens all concerned should be utterly ashamed of themselves.

I can only imagine that Katsidis has not seen any of Graham's subsequent fights.

I cannot imagine him wanting to take on a completely shot Graham earl.

Someone needs to get his team to look at his fights since 07.

Think i'll be placing whatever money i can get my hands on for rounds 1-3!

I thought it was dangerous for Earl when he fought Castle, Katsidis is obviously a different league. It's a worry if this is allowed to go ahead, I just hope it's only sport which is hurt by this.

This should NOT be sanctioned, I would think it wrong if Earl were put in with decent domestic opposition at this stage of his career let alone a elite banger like Katsidis, someone close to Earl have a word please!

Terrrrry wrote:Oh dear.

x2 :(

Disgrace and a joke!

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I can only imagine that Katsidis has not seen any of Graham's subsequent fights.

I cannot imagine him wanting to take on a completely shot Graham earl.

Someone needs to get his team to look at his fights since 07.

Got to agree with you there mate. The thing is, I read that Brendan Smith and Katsidis don't watch there opponents fights, they just prepare themself for there performance, hence Katsidis never changes him game plan. Am very sure if they did watch his last fights they wouldn't offer Earl the fight.

Earl's a bit delusional, needs saving from himself.

Maybe he thinks it's a few quid in the bank and some sun for 2 weeks?

Hope Earl is getting paid well

Making this fight is very poor form indeed and Earl is putting himself at great risk.

After Green-Briggs, do the Aussie public really want to see this?

Fights like this give a good argument for the existence of strong world governing body to prevent ridiculous and dangerous 'contests'. Never happen though.

This stinks so bad, and I'm so disappointed in Katsidis. Why would you fight somebody so shot when you've already beaten the guy in the past?

If Earl had won their fight then a revenge match against him as a homecoming would maybe make a tiny bit of sense. As it is, with Earl being so shot and this being extremely dangerous, I cannot see a single reason why this fight should happen.

For shame on you Mick, you've just lost a lot of respect from a huge fan

Jesus, this makes Enzo Mac vs Bobby "most vicious fighter since Jack Dempsey" Gunn look like a good matchup. Earl is risking his life just taking this fight, let alone trying to win it. I sincerely hope Katsidis carries him and hires Dave Parris as ref to jump in the instant he lands anything, because fighters that get blown out by Henry Castle have no business taking on world-level fighters. Someone close to Earl has to intervene.

Someone seriously needs to get involved in this and stop this fight happening, a very dangerous fight for Earl.

Earl has confirmed it on his facebook page, he prob needs the money, promoting is an expensive business, he is a grown man, he knows the risks

youngrell wrote:This stinks so bad, and I'm so disappointed in Katsidis. Why would you fight somebody so shot when you've already beaten the guy in the past?

If Earl had won their fight then a revenge match against him as a homecoming would maybe make a tiny bit of sense. As it is, with Earl being so shot and this being extremely dangerous, I cannot see a single reason why this fight should happen.

For shame on you Mick, you've just lost a lot of respect from a huge fan

As I said, I doubt Katsidis knows about Earl's form recently. He seems an honourable type to me - and hopefully, word reaches him about this.

Anyone on here got contact details for his management team?

Australia might be the other side of the world but I bet they have internet and tv, I bet they even have access to boxrec, of course they are well aware of Earls form. They are looking for a homecoming against a name

Coco wrote:Australia might be the other side of the world but I bet they have internet and tv, I bet they even have access to boxrec, of course they are well aware of Earls form. They are looking for a homecoming against a name

Yes, but what on earth would they gain by fighting someone who is completely shot - it's hardly brilliant PR is it, given that Earl is unlikely to make it out of the 1st round.

Either that, or Katsidis knows Earl needs a payday, and is going to carry him a few rounds.

Coco wrote:Earl has confirmed it on his facebook page, he prob needs the money, promoting is an expensive business, he is a grown man, he knows the risks

He does, but he clearly is making a poor decision here. He sounded punch drunk as hell going into the Khan fight, got destroyed there, and has since been blown out again by someone he would no doubt have knocked into a cocked hat a few years ago.

Coco wrote:Earl has confirmed it on his facebook page, he prob needs the money, promoting is an expensive business, he is a grown man, he knows the risks

Just because he knows the risks doesn't mean the fight should go ahead