From what we've seen so far, it's tough to pick against Mancini, but I honestly don't believe we've yet seen the best of Katsidis. I think the losses in '08 helped him grow as a fighter, rather than just become a Gatti clone like HBO had hoped would be the case. Yes he's already been fighting for nine years and should've already hit his prime, but I've seen a marked improvement in his past four fights than in any fight pre-Casa. For now, I'd have to pick Mancini, but would probably rather wait until next year (or even after the Marquez fight) to fully assess.
Ive always felt that Kat coulda beaten the Baby Cow with a better gameplan. I dunno what the hell he was thinkin that night, he shoulda focused ALOT more on the body. I hope your right, and that we havent seen the best of Kat yet. I believe that Marquez will beat him, but its no guarantee. Marquez is long enough in the tooth that Kat is a live dog. I'd pick Mancini to stop him circa the 8th or 9th though.... because in this war(which it certainly would be) Mancini has the better chin of the two. Now thats something that Kat CANT fix.
after the marquez fight it will be a post-mortem discussion. which fight in particular did you see this improvement? he did manage to beat escobedo, but i chalk that up to escobedo being very over rated.
Escobedo and Kev Mitchell arent in the same Universe as Marquez, but still I dont think it'll be quite the slaughter your expecting. This is not based on Kat improving, but rather on Marquez decling. The Marquez of a few years ago would slaughter Kat pretty one sidedly. Now I think he might have a rough fight on his hands, but in the end still wins.... most likely by stoppage. As for Jake saying that Kat has improved, he has a bit. In that he's not quite as reckless as he was pre-Casamayor, but I dont see how it serves him vs Mancini. Ray was not only stronger, and more durable then Kat... he had a higher skill set as well. See his fight with JL Ramirez as proof. It'd be a dog fight and both guys would get hit... Mancini would just take it better.
