by David P. Greisman

Former lightweight contender Michael Katsidis is accused of “possessing a drug utensil” after officers who had pulled him over in January found what Australian newspaper The Courier Mail called “a drug pipe.”

He has a court date scheduled for March 25.

Last year, Katsidis was accused of burglary after allegedly breaking into a house in late July, according to a report at the time in Australia’s Fraser Coast Chronicle. That charge was later dropped, though apparently he still has a related March 18 court date for allegedly “possessing restricted drugs,” according to The Courier Mail.

Katsidis returned in March 2014 after about two years out of the ring, scoring a third-round technical knockout over some dude named Eddy Comaro. He then won a rematch with Graham Earl in July and lost via second-round stoppage to Tommy Coyle this past October.

The 34-year-old is 30-7 with 24 KOs. His record includes wins over Jesus Chavez and Vicente Escobedo, and losses to Joel Casamayor, Juan Diaz, Juan Manuel Marquez, Robert Guerrero, Ricky Burns and Albert Mensah. He had been the WBO’s interim titleholder at 135 twice.

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com