6.9.08

Round by Round: Diaz v. Katsidis

This lightweight fight involves two fighters that are coming off of losing fights that tarnished their undefeated records. Now it's a question of which of these two fighters can shake off these defeats and get their rising careers back on track.

Katsidis is 28 years old from Australia. He has a record of 23-1 and considers himself a "spartan warrior" and comes to the ring in a spartan helmet. Diaz is 33-1 with 17 KOs.

Round 1:
Katsidis rushes into the center of the ring. Katsidis is using very fast upper body movement early in the round. Diaz lands a strong counterpunch. Both fighters are told to watch the headbutts. Diaz is trowing good jabs but isn't trowing many combinations. Katsidis is throwing very hard hooks to the body and head. Diaz is throwing more total punches in round 1. Diaz's defense looks strong, blocking most of what Katsidis is is throwing. Diaz now starts to throw to the body.
Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Uatu: 10-9 Diaz

Round 2:
Katsidis starts upping the punch output early in this round. Katsidis now has a cut under his left eye. Not sure if it was caused by a headbutt or punch. Diaz is not throwing very fast hooks. Katsidis isn't backing down and throws very hard hooks right back. Katsidis is using more foot movement and is circling Diaz. Katsidis looks to be throwing the harder shots but Diaz is landing cleaner.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Uatu: 10-9 Diaz

Round 3:
Katsidis continues to throw more punches but they are going right into the gloves of Diaz. Katsidis is really keeping the pressure up but Diaz is throwing a lot of punches and they are landing cleanly. Katsidis' defense looks rusty and Diaz is landing more punches.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Uatu: 10-9 Diaz

Round 4:
Diaz is not throwing more punches put Katsidis isn't backing down and throwing very hard hooks and now uppercuts but Diaz is still landing the cleaner punches. Neither fighter looks tired and both fighters are not slowing their pace. Now Diaz lands a very fast flurry and Katsidis throws back and lands a combo of his own. Katsidis gets a good punch in after the bell.

Spartan117: 10-9 Katsidis
Uatu: 10-9 Diaz

Round 5:
Katsidis lands a good counter punch at the start of the round. Diaz isn't phased and comes forward to throw. Diaz is now landing 4 hooks to the head of Katsidis and he clinches to hold on. Katsidis' punches are fast but remain off the mark. Katsidis now starts throwing uppercuts to Diaz's body but Diaz still comes forward and lands like crazy.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Uatu: 10-9 Diaz

Round 6:
Katsidis looks to be having more trouble blocking the jab. Diaz sets up massive combos from a single jab and Katsidis takes every punch. Katsidis looks to be in real trouble. Katsidis now slows down the punch output. He seems to be trying to figure out how to start scoring. Katsidis still cant get out the way of Diaz's stiff jab. There is a lot of blood coming from the face of Katsidis.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Uatu: 10-9 Diaz

Round 7:
Katsidis is clearly being beaten but he continues to come forward early in the rounds and just takes more punishment. Katsidis is now taking a while to throw combinations. Diaz is throwing more and is more confident in the fight. Both fighters are now throwing bombs to the body. Diaz is landing great hooks but also landing very solid counter punches. Katsidis looks very discouraged but throws when he can.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Uatu: 10-9 Diaz

Round 8:
Diaz comes out looking strong and Katsidis continues to take more punches to the face. Between rounds, Katsidis' corner didn't have much advice to give their fighter. Since he hasn't won a round on Lederman's card, I'd think there should be a more sense of urgency. Katsidis now works the body but the punches are blocked. Diaz lands three left uppercuts in a row and the punishment can clearly be seen on the face of Katsidis.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Uatu: 10-9 Katsidis

Round 9:
Katsidis isn't backing down and and comes out swinging. Diaz blocks more of the barrage but takes a few to the head. Katsidis is now getting more punches through the defense of Diaz. The ref stops the action to cut the tape from Katsidis' glove. The two fighters come forward immediately and go to work. Katsidis lands about 5 unanswered punches. Diaz looks to be getting slightly tired in this round. Katsidis comes in and gets clocked with a hard uppercut.

Spartan117: 10-9 Katsidis
Uatu: 10-9 Diaz

Round 10:
A doctor takes a look at the cut on the eye of Katsidis. He says he's OK to continue. Katsidis now starts using a jab and it lands but not much follows. Both fighters are keeping up their punching output in this round. Katsidis gets in a solid uppercut in but now their heads are getting close and there may be some clashing going on.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Uatu: 10-9 Diaz

Round 11:
Katsidis should be looking for KO if he wants to win this fight but his punching numbers are low early in this round. The ref stops the action again to cut the tape of Katsidis' glove. Katsidis now comes back with hard shots to the head of Diaz but Diaz blocks the majority of the combo. Diaz is still landing the cleaner shots. and with 30 seconds left in the round it looks like Diaz is going to take another round with good, fast, and strong combos.

Spartan117: 10-9 Diaz
Uatu: 10-9 Diaz

Round 12:
More tape comes off of the glove of Katsidis and the action is stopped before a punch is thrown. The fighters come right back in the middle of the ring and swing away. Diaz slips and Katsidis capitalizes and punches Diaz into the ropes. Diaz gets his balance back and throws combos back. Diaz is now lunging forward with straight shots. Katsidis is thowing and landing uppercuts in the middle of the clinch. Diaz comes right back with a vicious combo against the ropes and Katsidis looks hurt. He makes it out of the round. Both fighters raise their arms after the bell.

Spartan117: 10-9 Katsidis
Uatu: 10-9 Diaz

Spartan117: 117-111 Diaz
Uatu: 117-111 Diaz

Judge 1: 115-113 Katsidis
Judge 2: 115-113 Diaz
Judge 3: 116-112 Diaz

Diaz wins by split decision

Diaz says that Katsidis has serious punching power but he never hurt him. He says his last fight is in the past and he's ready to move forward with his career.

Katsidis laughs when Kellerman asks if he thinks he won the fight. The crowd boo's and Kellerman scolds the audience. Both Katsidis and his trainer say that the judges and Kellerman were wrong in judging the fight and that Katsidis won.

9 comments:

uatu said...

this is shaping up to be an exciting fight. the two fighters were right in each others chest virtually the whole second round. cuts are already happening to katsidis though. could stop it down the road.

uatu said...

Diaz is showing something. he is controlling the ring, but is staying offensive. throwing a lot of punches but keeping tight D too

uatu said...

Kellerman said "Diaz is literally boxing circles around Katsidis" and that sums up perfectly exactly what is happening.

uatu said...

It's going to take a Juarez-like turn around down the stretch for Katsidis to win. He's cut up, he's swollen, he's probably losing these rounds too.

uatu said...

Have to admire Katsidis. his face may show the effects of the fight, but he still looks fast, he doesn't look too tired, and he continues to try to find a way to win.

uatu said...

Katsidis had a mildy successful round 8, but if he did win it, it wasn't by much. He is going to need to do more. Diaz is showing consistency.

uatu said...

Diaz outlanded Katsidis about 2 to 1 in round 10 according to HBO. Amazingly, Katisdis's corner keeps tell him he is doing a great job. He isn't doing a bad job, but he isn't winning.

uatu said...

Those scores were way different from the judges than what Uatu saw. Lederman had it ten rounds to two. Papa had it eleven rounds to one. Uatu had it ten rounds to two. Somehow Diaz won by only a split decision.

uatu said...

Spartan also had it ten rounds to two. In the end, the right guy won, and by no means did Katsidis shame himself. Both gentlemen will be worth following in the future.