The always exciting Australian fighter Michael “The Great” Katsidis 26-2 (21) is claiming that WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan 22-1 (16) has personally declined the opportunity to fight him.

Katsidis who is the WBO interim lightweight champion and is struggling to get the full champion Juan Manuel Marquez to fight him, said he offered himself as a challenger to the Brit even though it would mean stepping up a weight division.

Katisidis today issued a statement through his management which stated: “I was told that Freddie Roach was willing to accept me as his next opponent for a possible March 27th fight. It is obvious he has the confidence that you can beat me. In addition, the TV networks and the promoters wanted this fight. I was told by those involved that it was Amir personally that refused the fight – the only person that didn’t want it to happen.”

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Tonights main event was an excellent contest as British light welterweight champion Lenny Daws 20-1-2 (8) looked a shade unlucky to only draw with Jason Cook 26-3-1 (13) at the York Hall, London.

At the bell Cook came out prowling looking to use his good jab and trying to zero in with his big left hook. Midway through the 1st, Cook landed the left and Daws wobbled back towards the ropes. Cook unloaded but Daws tied his man up when possible and fiddled through to the bell.

Rounds two, three and four were quite close affairs but Cook was surprising Daws with an excellent jab and surprising hand speed to probably win most of them. Daws who likes to use a high punch output style was unable to find a rythym as the Cook jab landed time and time again. However Daws landed a good left hook in the sixth but the champion was probably a couple of points down at the halfway stage.

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Hugo Hernan Garay 32-4 (17) lost his WBA light heavyweight title on a majority decision to Gabriel Campillo in June of 2009. The bout was in Garay’s home country of Argentina. Due to the close nature of the scoring, Garay was kept very high in the WBA rankings.

Chris Henry 24-2 (19) looked like a prospect who couldn’t quite cut it in his two losses (to Adrian Diaconu and Yusaf Mack). For this reason he was picked as an opponent for Shaun George last July but Henry shocked George by stopping him in 6 rounds.

With the WBA deciding on what to do over the fallout from the decision in the Campillo- Shumenov rematch, it has been decided that Garay and George will meet for the “Interim” version of the title. The date has been set at 27th February and will be held at Cancun in Mexico.

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Bute & Miranda

On April 17th, there is possibly the most exciting super middleweight clash outside of the super six tournament. IBF champion Lucian Bute 25-0 (20) fresh off a much easier than expected return win over Librado Andrade takes on Edison Miranda 33-4 (29) , who we know is very rarely in a bad fight. The two met today at an official press conference in Montreal. Bute is Romanian by birth but resides in Montreal.

Edison Miranda challenger: I saw the first fight between Bute and Andrade. Bute won my heart. Bute deserves a lot of blessing. I come to fight. I come to win. I have nothing against Bute. I will prepare myself. I may not win, but I guarantee you will all be very happy. I have a lot of respect to InterBox and Bute. In the 12th round of Bute vs Andrade, Bute was hurt and Andrade hit him and he (Bute) still got up. I said he is a real champion. He fights with his heart, like me. I want to fight him.

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Edwin Valero 27-0 (27) looked as good as he ever has when dismantling the game Antonio DeMarco 23-2-1 at the weekend to retain his WBC lightweight title.

Now it seems like Valero wants to try his hand at the light welterweight division albeit possibly temporarily. He has spoken to the WBC about keeping his lightweight title but taking a fight at 140lbs.

He has seemingly received a positive response and is eyeing Timothy Bradley (WBO champion) or Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz.

Valero has said that he want to take on Diaz and is willing to travel to Texas (subject to licensing) to get the fight. Valero has stated “I want to prove I have power in this (light-welter) weight category.

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Much like the more famous Klitschko brothers, Daiki and Koki Kameda had a dream to be World champions at the same time.

Daiki Kameda 16-2 (11) lost his first title shot last October when losing a majority points decision to Thai veteran Denkaosan Kaovichit 48-2-1 (20) but bad boy brother Koki won the WBC flyweight title in November.

Tonight Daiki won his rematch with Kaovichit and in doing so won the WBA flyweight title and ensured that he and his brother hold the WBC and WBA flyweight titles.

However the fight tonight was an absolute stinker with a crazy amount of holding and very little clean work. Kaovichit seemed to edge the earlier rounds but faded alarmingly early. The veteran had a point deducted in the sixth round for holding and yet another in the 11th. The younger man did a little bit more in the final rounds to secure the decision but it was comical to see the young challenger slip on the canvas so many times.

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Former World light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek 40-1 (27) continued on his run to win a World championship in three weight divisions by out pointing tough American Jason Estrada 16-3 (4) in New Jersey.

Adamek looked in good shape at 220lb and generally had the edge on Estrada who fought harder than he did when losing to fellow prospect Alexander Povetkin.

Adamek was being roared on by the crowd during the entire fight, with Estrada probably thinking he was fighting in Poland. Estrada came out hard and fast and surprised Adamek in the early rounds. Adamek for his part did what he normally did, popping in and out with punches before circling awkwardly away.

Adamek showed good stamina but it was a little alarming to see how easy he was to hit by Estrada. Luckily for Adamek, Estrada cannot really punch.

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Gabriel Campillo, 19-3 (6), won a wafer thin decision against Beibut Shumenov 9-1 (6) last August in Shumenov’s home country of Kazakhstan for the WBA light heavyweight crown. This fight was certainly open to debate so a rematch was signed.

The rematch was held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas on January 29th and after 12 hard rounds, it seemed to the majority of fans and boxing journalists that Campillo had won on a close but clear decision. Levi Martinez agreed and the judge scored 117-111 for Campillo. However Jerry Roth saw it 115-113 for Shumenov which seemed off course but just about understandable. Patricia Jarman though watched a different fight and her score of 117-111 for Shumenov was ridiculous.

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Jason Booth 35-5 (15) retained his title tonight with an eleventh round cut eye stoppage win over Matthew Marsh 13-2 (1). The result however does not tell the whole story of an engaging battle.

Booth is a classy boxer but from the first bell Marsh went on the attack, threw plenty of punches and generally knocked Booth out of his game plan.

A very early head clash cut the defending champion who started to panic. Marsh carried on this fine form for the early rounds and I noted the comment that Marsh “has never looked better” in the third round.

Booth came back a little in the fourth and started to get his nice left jab off but in the fifth Marsh came back and was awarded a knockdown when a straight right caught Booth on the top of the head and Booth slipped to the canvas. The referee called it a knockdown but it was difficult to judge.

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Vitali Klitschko’s promoter Bernd Boente has gone on record today to say that Klitschko 39-2 (37) wants to take on giant Nikolay Valuev 50-2 (34).

The plan is for Vitali to take on Valuev on May 29th and the stadium will be the Schalke 04 stadium at which 50,000 fans attended to watch brother Wladimir beat Ruslan Chagaev last year (although many had purchased tickets for Wladimir-Haye).

As per the norm in boxing circles, Klitschko will be hoping that he can do a better job on Valuev than David Haye did when winning his World title thus building up a potential Vitali-Haye fight even more. It seems that the Klitschko brothers have made a pact that it would be better for the Iron-chinned Vitali to step into the ring against the brash Haye.

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Guillermo Rigondeaux, 4-0 (3), is donating his entire purse from his bout on Friday to the Children of Haiti fund.

The 28 year old Rigondeaux faces Adolfo Landeros 20-12-1 (9) tonight on the undercard of Yusaf Mack-Glenn Johnson in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Rigondeaux has arguably the greatest amateur record of all time in boxing with a staggering record of 243 wins against four losses. Rigondeaux is a double Olympic champion and a World champion in the unpaid ranks.

This article is probably not ground breaking news but it nice to report a feel good story when there are so many stories lurking around glorifying boxers indiscretions.

Lee Beard, who took over training duties for Ricky Hatton when the Manchester Hitman ended his long term relationship with Billy “The Preacher” Graham is leaving the team Hatton camp.

Beard was in the corner when Hatton was destroyed by Manny Pacquiao although Floyd Mayweather Snr was the head corner man on that night.

Beard also trains Matthew Hatton. Matthew Hatton will now be trained by popular trainer Bob Shannon.

No word has come from Ricky Hatton as yet as to who will be training him for his next and probably last fight. He is currently away on holiday before he comes back to the UK for his training camp.

Beard is thought to be moving to the United States but it is not clear as to whether he walked away through choice or through expecting the bullet (sack) from Hatton.

The exceedingly popular Sky Prizefighter tournament once again returns to our screens on February 26th.

The weight division for the first time in Prizefighter history will be the light middleweight division.

Although not as strong as the last Prizefighter line up, there is once again a good mix of talented youngsters and veterans. This is the initial line up:

1/. Bradley Pryce- Wales

Pro record 28-7 (17) . Former Commonwealth champion

2/. Neil Sinclair- Belfast, Northern Ireland

Pro record 33-7 (26) Former British welterweight champion

3/. Danny Butler- Bristol, England

Pro record- 18-3 (3)- Recent Brit and Commonwealth challenger

4/. Prince Aaron- Manchester, England

Pro record- 14-3-1 (1)

5/. Brett Flournoy- Birkenhead, England

Pro record- 9-0-0-1NC (4)

6/. George Hillyard- London, England

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Jesse Brinkley 35-5 (22) boxed better than ever before when clearly outpointing favourite Curtis Stevens 21-3 (15) this past Friday night. The fight was an eliminator for the IBF super middleweight number 2 spot but it seems like Brinkley’s win may jump him straight into a bout with Romanian/ Canadian IBF champion Lucian Bute 25-0 (20).

Brinkley is promoted by Lets Get It On Promotions, run by legendary referee Mills Lane’s two sons and it seems they are on the verge of making the fight with Bute.

Say what you want about the perceived lack of quality fighters that graced the tv show “The Contender” but there can be no doubt that the exposure has helped numerous fighters too big fights that may not have taken place had they not appeared on the show.

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Mexico City, Mexico

Jorge “Travieso” Arce 53-6-1 (40) has provided lots of thrills and spills in a long career but promised to retire if he lost his challenge for the vacant WBO super flyweight title last night. Luckily for Arce and us boxing fans, his career lives on after he won a 7th round technical decision over Angky Angkota 23-5 (14).

Arce seemed to be quite some way ahead on the scorecards when Angkota suffered a nasty cut from an accidental head butt and was ruled unable to continue. The judges scored the bout 60-54 (twice) and 58-56 all for the veteran Arce.

On the undercard featherweight Eduardo Escobedo 27-3 (19) had just a little too much in every department for Joksan Hernandez 17-2 (10) and was awarded a unanimous decision over 10 rounds. The scorecards read 97-92, 97-93 and 96-93.

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