The bigger, faster, and younger Tommy Coyle (20-2, 9 KOs) took out Michael Katsidis (30-7, 24 KOs) in the 2nd round on Saturday night at the Hull Arena in Hull, England. Katsidis, 34, was pressuring Coyle at the time, and he was caught by a fast left hook that dropped him on all fours on the canvas. When Katsidis got to his feet, he staggered briefly while being checked out by referee Marcus McDonnell, and that was all it took for him stop the fight.
The fight was officially stopped at 1:33 of the round. Katsidis stopped staggered and looked like he was ready to continue fighting, but McDonnell wasn’t going to let him continue. The shot that Coyle threw wasn’t a really big punch. It was just a case of Katsidis not having his guard up, and him not being ready for the punch.
The first round was pretty competitive with both guys landing some nice punches. Katsidis got the better of Coyle each time he would stop and trade with him, but Coyle was smart to keep moving, jabbing and using his height and reach advantage. However, if the fight had gone longer it’s quite possible that Katsidis would have eventually gotten to Coyle, because he was landing some really big shots. Coyle doesn’t have the greatest chin in the world.
Coyle was pretty excited about his win afterward, as he ran around the ring as if he’d just won a world title rather than a case of him beating a shot fighter. There’s a big difference between beating Katsidis and trying to do the same to one of the lightweight world champions like Terence Crawford.
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2012 Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell (9-0, 7 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a 5th round stoppage win over Daniel Brizuela (26-4-2, 8 KOs). Brizuela was dropped in the 5th. He got back up but was hit with another series of hard shots. The fight was then stopped.
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34-year-old Vusi Malinga (21-6-1, 12 KOs) put in a good effort, but he still ended up losing by a 12 round unanimous decision to 122 prospect McDonnell (12-0-2, 4 KOs). The final scores were 116-111, 115-112, and 116-111.
