Former world champion boxer Michael Katsidis opens up about addiction, fame and his new path as a mentor
Australia boxing legend Michael Katsidis has opened up on his career scaling the heights to become a world champion, before it all came apart in a decade of pain, addiction and time behind bars. Here’s how he found a new mission to steer the next generation.
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Among the corrugated iron sheet walls and the lingering smell of sweat and testosterone, Michael Katsidis holds court to a mesmerised group of teenagers.
The former world champion boxer and his much-publicised downfall have made national headlines for years, most recently in February when he was sentenced for trafficking cocaine.
But the dozens of teenagers at the Warwick Boxing Club couldn’t care less.
It’s actually the busiest the head coach has ever seen it.
Katsidis was first inspired to take up the sport after watching Stallone’s Rocky as a kid, and that sparked his desire to be a champion.
Now he hopes his career and story is enough to help set kids on the right path.
The Greek-Australian, known as The Great during his fighting days, made his name across Australia for his orthodox fighting style and passion for the art.
The story of this Olympian and WBO lightweight champion began in southern Queensland, where he cut his teeth in the ring.
Katsidis and late brother Stathi were both high-energy children.
Dad Harry was integral in his development as a young fighter, and Katsidis attributes the support from both of his parents as key to his success.
As he rose in stature around the amateur circuit, the lightweight qualified to represent his country at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
A year later, one mistake nearly threw it all away.
In 2001, Katsidis was involved in an altercation where he broke a man’s jaw.
The fighter, who still maintains he was acting in self-defence, pleaded not guilty to the assault charge.
Katsidis was convicted and spent the next eight months in prison, but continued to forge his legend behind bars.
Katsidis said prisoners still talked about how a plucky 21-year-old brutally took down an inmate who shot a police officer.
His first run in with the law didn’t stop him, and Katsidis’ career reached new heights.
Within years he was fighting in Wembley Arena in London and the biggest casinos on the Las Vegas strip.
“I was 26 years old, walking around Hollywood Boulevard thinking ‘how great is this’ – I was even in the elevator with Angelina Jolie,” Katsidis, now 43, laments.
“I always knew I was going to be successful (then), so it doesn’t matter what I do now. I’ll supply the same principles that I did in boxing.”
In 2007, an unbeaten Katsidis bested Graham Earl, scoring the WBO Lightweight Championship in the process.
He was now a champion in the sport.
Katsidis would fight some of the best in the world at this time, including then-lightweight champion Juan Manuel Márquez.
Márquez took down the fiery Toowoomba boy in the ninth round.
However just weeks before Katsidis entered the ring, brother Stathi died of a drug overdose.
The tragedy led him to “mask his turmoil with drugs and alcohol”.
“I was always unwilling to accept that I was an addict. I couldn’t get up a day without having to mask the pain,” Katsidis said.
“I was crazy and I lost my mind because my body was full of toxins. I had no direction, day in and day out I was seeking masking from my pain.
“When I lost my brother I should have dealt with it then, it just built up.
“I kept making bad decisions and bad associates. When you’re in troubled times you need to surround yourself with the right people, but I kept choosing the wrong people.”
In 2022, Katsidis’ world fell down around him when police raided a property he stayed at.
Katsidis had lived at a cocaine “safe house” in Spring Hill regularly and helped a drug ring monitor cocaine stocks and cash levels.
A court heard Katsidis was entrusted with the code to the safe containing 8g of the drug and $42k cash.
After spending nearly two years in custody, he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking offences in February and was released.
“You walk through a jail and everyone knows you and calls out your name, it’s a weird feeling,” Katsidis said.
“I felt a lot of shame and guilt. You know, being where I was because I’ve got kids out there, I have a daughter, she’s 14-years-old. I had a two-year-old boy and a set of two-year-old twins.
“They want a father, that’s all I could think about and I would cry about it every night.
“I had more cracks (fights) in jail this time too. Coming into jail as a world champion, I knew when to pull my punches, I had 14 cracks. As an older, wiser person I took the higher road and did what I had to do.”
It was the genesis of his new boxing program, The Blueprint.
“I knew when I was out I had to send a message to all those kids that we’re thinking about going down that road,” he said.
“It’s up to us to help guide the young people, the right way and sure because if it keeps going the way it’s going, these kids are going to grow up with nothing.
“I’m tired all the time, but I’ve had enough, I just can’t sit back anymore. I want to make something of my life and that’s exactly what I said to myself when I was doing boxing training.”
The Blueprint focuses on mindset, growth, physical strength and lessons from his past aimed at all, but particularly at-risk youth.
At his heart, Katsidis said he’s committed to making the world a better place.
“If I can help save one life or (help) someone get that better direction, then you know, like I’ll die a happy man,” he said.
“My mission now after being in jail, and everything I’ve gone through; my mission now is to empower young men to improve their mindset.
“I want to help other people and continue helping myself. It all takes time and it’s building in a big way.
“I want my kids to see a good story about my dad in the paper, about redemption and how he just wants to better himself.”
As he surrounds himself with young boxers full of potential, he wants them to “make the most of their gift”.
“Maybe I went so far because someone told me to believe,” Katsidis said.
“You gotta be a little bit crazy, you know and have that determination. You can’t change the past, but you can change the future.”
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Originally published as Former world champion boxer Michael Katsidis opens up about addiction, fame and his new path as a mentor
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