A brief round-up of the weekend's action;

KATSIDIS STILL KING WITH KNOCKOUT OVER MITCHELL

Michael Katsidis showed why he is currently the number one ranked man at lightweight with a frenzied third round assault that stopped top-10 opponent Kevin Mitchell, the betting favourite that was fancied by many pundits to clearly outbox the defending champion. However, it was the always-fun Katsidis who was using his head and less than three rounds into the fight, it paid dividends.

Mitchell looked, early, like the slicker, better fighter. His jab was halting Katsidis in his tracks, and Katsidis was mostly tentative in the first round. Katsidis did have one stretch of the round where he chased Mitchell down and battered him a bit against the ropes, but while the round could've been given to Katsidis on the strength of that, it was Mitchell who appeared to be doing more of what he wanted overall.

In the second round, Katsidis began uncharacteristically moving backward, seemingly trying to tempt the less experienced Mitchell into trading with him. Although Katsidis has recently sharpened some of his boxing skills, he's still been the one coming forward in all his fights so it was suprising to see him in a much more calculated way. Katsidis lost the round easily, but Mitchell admitted later that he got drawn in by the tactic.

Early in the third, a Katsidis left hook wobbled Mitchell, and suddenly the power Katsidis has missed in recent fights returned. Mitchell to his credit fought back bravely, and it was a great round of back and forth action, one where Katsidis appeared to be a touch hurt himself at one point. But ultimately, there was too much time on the clock, and Mitchell's legs never came back to life. Katsidis again trapped Mitchell against the ropes and fired a left hook that forced the ref to step in and save him.

Mitchell didn't seem to show a glass chin so much as he got caught and never recovered. Having said that, it wasn't a bad performance, with the caveat that he got knocked out and at still tender age of twenty-five, there's no reason to think he can't bounce back from this.

Katsidis may well be able to line himself up for a shot at the winner of the Marquez-Diaz rematch, tentatively scheduled for July 31. The WBO ordered Marquez-Katsidis last winter, but for numerous reasons the fight didn't come off. Katsidis has fought and lost to a competitive points decision to Diaz (split decision, but most pundits believed Diaz won unanimously), but in a way that would still make the fight very compelling and definitely sellable despite the fact that Diaz has lost two of his last three fights.

Diaz is much more shop-worn now than he was then, and Katsidis boxed with a terrible game plan in the first fight. Since then, he's gotten back to business and Katsidis has been more like himself. His style and power was just way too much for Mitchell, as he was able to bully him with ease whenever he had the inclination to do so.

Katsidis was pleased with his performance and was ecstatic to have retained his title in front of such a large crowd. "I feel I'm the best I've ever been, we've worked hard and I've been away from my family and my new baby girl... It's fantastic; it's been an absolute pleasure. You've got 20,000 people here, I would just hope one day these people could come and support me."