Magic Millions: Champion boxer Michael Katsidis inspired by late brother Stathi’s legacy

It’s been 15 years since late jockey Stathi Katsidis won the Magic Millions and tragically passed away in the same year. His boxing champion brother Michael opens up about his legacy.

Boxing champion Michael Katsidis says the memory of his brother Stathi helped him turn his life around. Left picture: Liam Kidston

As former world champion boxer Michael Katsidis sat in jail for almost two years, it was the memory of his much-loved jockey brother Stathi which helped convince him to turn his own life around.

It was 15 years ago that Queenslander Stathi Katsidis won the 2010 Gold Coast Magic Millions 2YO Classic on Military Rose, but the talented young hoop tragically died later that year.

Brother Michael pinpoints the heartbreak of losing his brother as the moment when his own life started to plunge off the rails and it led to drug addiction and jail for trafficking cocaine.

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Michael, now working in a Brisbane boxing gym where he has fostered a program to keep wayward teenagers on the straight and narrow, keeps his brother’s memory close to his heart.

“Everyone who knew Stathi loved him, the admiration and respect for him was amazing,” Michael Katsidis told News Corp.

“He would have gone on to much bigger and better things as a jockey.

“It was at that very moment that he died when I went off the rails.

“It took me having two years in prison to think about things and to accept things.

“I thought about Stathi every day when I was in jail and I thought about his life and his legacy and what that could teach me.

Stathi Katsidis salutes after winning the 2010 Magic Millions on Military Rose. Picture: Jono Searle

“The lessons that I learned from his life, I really thought about when I was in jail.

“I decided I wanted to try to make a difference in my own life.

“The young people these days might not want to listen to politicians or their parents – they might not even have parents.

“But they will listen to someone like me who has been there and done it.”

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At the time of his death, Katsidis had the racing world at his feet.

He had won six Group 1s including the Manikato Stakes on Gold Edition and the Australian Derby and Randwick Guineas on Shoot Out.

Stathi Katsidis had faced troubles of his own but before he died had made massive strides towards getting his life back on track.

As the rich Magic Millions carnival pauses this week to reflect on the memory of Stathi Katsidis, brother Michael remembers his last final conversation with his brother on the day of his shock death.

“The last conversation we had was probably the best conversation we ever had in our lives,” Michael Katsidis said.

Stathi Katsidis with his brother Michael Katsidis in 2007.

“He was about to have some big spring carnival rides and we were also speaking about meeting up after I had boxed, really reuniting and spending some quality time together.

“We were making plans and we touched on a lot of stuff and how grateful we were for each other.

“One of my proudest moments was when we were kids and it showed how fearless Stathi was.

“We were walking home from school one day and it was flooding.

“There was a tricycle that was being washed away in the middle of a creak, just floating away.

“Everyone was too scared to go and get it as there was water coming from everywhere, Stathi just jumped straight in and got it.

“When he was a kid he used to run in cross country races, he just had the biggest heart and he would run so hard and he just never wanted to quit.

“I could see the pain he put himself through as a jockey at times.

“He was injured one time and had a bone sticking out of his leg, some people said he would never ride again but within a year he was a leading jockey.

“If you want something bad you can achieve it and that’s what Stathi proved to me.”

Michael Katsidis with Stathi after his fifth win in the Weetwood Handicap in 2007.

Michael Katsidis, who is also an Olympian after fighting for Australia at the Sydney Games in 2000, joked that brother Stathi also helped to boost his bank balance.

Stathi’s inside racing tips on horses he was riding made Michael plenty of money.

“He used to give me the best mail, I won hundreds of thousands of dollars off horses that he tipped me,” Michael Katsidis said.

“I will tell you now that I sent some bookmakers broke.

“They feared me.

“But out of that I made some of my best mates, including (wagering identity and Melbourne Storm chairman) Matt Tripp.”

Originally published as Magic Millions: Champion boxer Michael Katsidis inspired by late brother Stathi’s legacy