‘Iron’ Mike Zambidis was defeated by John Wayne Parr on Friday night in one of the most anticipated kickboxing rematches. The Powerplay Gymnasium – sponsored event was a huge hit with the crowd but Greek legend Zambidis was unable to delight his fans, losing on a unanimous points decision after five cut-throat rounds.

Zambidis was busted open in the second round, and lost a significant amount of blood as a very sharp and fit Parr looked to be getting on top of ‘Iron’ Mike.
But the powerful Zambidis could not be held down as he unleashed a torrent of attacks in the third and fourth rounds with the crowd right behind him amid a tremendous atmosphere.

After a frenetic finish, Parr was announced as the winner on a unanimous points decision, a fair result despite the protestations from sections of the crowd.
The pair have quite a history together. In 2002, Zambidis and Parr put together one of the most dynamic matches in Australian history in front of 6000 spectators. In the match that was televised on the Fox Sports Network, Zambidis claimed the victory on points.

In Boxing news, Greek-Australian boxer Michael Katsidis may be in line to fight Britain’s Ricky Hatton in Manchester before the end of the year. Hatton was handed a two-round knockout by Philippines’ Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas last week.

Many fight experts have called for the 30-year-old to quit the ring but no decision has yet been made, and a fight with Katsidis could be the carrot that will keep Hatton in the ring.

“I believe we can make it happen, but it’s Ricky’s call if he wants it,” Katsidis’ manager Brendon Smith told the BBC.

“We haven’t thrown Michael’s name up as a challenge to Ricky because of his loss to Pacquiao, we had talks with [Hatton’s promoters] Golden Boy a long time before.

“We’re still available if they want to do the fight in Manchester. So we’re just waiting to hear the decision on Ricky’s future.

“But we need to make a move soon because we want Michael to fight before the end of the year.” The 28-year-old Katsidis had an impressive win in his last outing when he stopped former two-weight world champion Jesus Chavez in the eighth round.
“Michael had a great win recently over Jesus Chavez and is coming into the peak of his career and I’m sure Ricky would not want to go out on such a devastating loss,” said Smith.