Encyclopedia
Arturo "Thunder" Gatti , is a Canadian professional
boxer. Gatti was born in
Italy to Italian parents, but his family moved to
Canada when he was young and he was raised in
Montreal. He has lived in
Jersey City, New Jersey since 1991.
Gatti is considered by many boxing experts and fans alike to be one of the most exciting boxers living today. He participated in
Ring Magazine's "fight of the year" three years in a row, from 1996 to 1998. His brother, Joe Gatti, is also a professional boxer. Arturo Gatti is also good friends with
NASCAR driver,
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Professional Career
Arturo Gatti was a member of the Canadian National Team, and was in training to represent Canada at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, but at age 19 , he decided to turn pro instead. He began boxing professionally on the night of June 10, 1991, with a third round knockout of
Jose Gonzalez in
Secaucus. He went undefeated for seven bouts before losing to King Solomon by a decision in six rounds on November 17 of 1992.
His next fight, on March 23, 1993, was his first fight abroad, where he visited
Amsterdam and knocked out Plawen Goutchev in round one.
1994 was a year when Gatti stepped up his quality of opposition. He started by beating Leon Bostic, and followed through with a win over Pete Taliaferro to win the USBA Jr. Lightweight title, by a knockout in round one. He retained the title against Richard Salazar and Jose Sanabria.
Signing With HBO
On December 15, 1995, Gatti challenged the IBF's world Jr. Lightweight champion, Floyd Patterson's adoptive son Tracy Harris Patterson. Gatti became world champion when he narrowly outpointed Patterson, and signed a multi-fight deal with
HBO, to fight on HBO Boxing.
He only had 2 fights in 1996, once defending his world title. But his title defense, at
Madison Square Garden against
Dominican Wilson Rodriguez was the first of three Gatti fights in a row to be named "fight of the year" by
Ring Magazine. Dropped in round three and with his right eye closing fast, Gatti knocked out Rodriguez in round six to retain the title.
In 1997, he repeated his points victory over Patterson, then scored a technical knockout over former world champion Calvin Grove in round seven of a non-title affair. Then came his defense against former world champion Gabriel Ruelas, which was also named "fight of the year" by Ring Magazine. Rocked by a left uppercut in the fourth, Gatti absorbed more than 15 consecutive punches before being saved by the bell. In the fifth, he connected on a left hook to drop Ruelas and end the fight.
Losing Focus
After that fight, Gatti chose to relinquish the world title, going up in weight to the lightweight division. But 1998 was a bad year for Gatti, as he lost all three of his fights that year. He lost by a technical knockout in round eight to Angel Manfredy, and then lost a pair of close decisions in 10 rounds to Ivan Robinson. Gatti-Robinson I was chosen "fight of the year" by Ring Magazine, thus marking the third year in a row that a Gatti fight was given that award.
He only had one fight in 1999, knocking out Reyes Munoz in round one.
Controversy against Gamache
His first fight of 2000 proved to be controversial, however. Faced with former world champion Joey Gamache, Gatti won by a knockout in round two. But when Gamache went into a coma for a day and it was discovered that Gatti had gained 18 pounds since the weight-in the day before and thus had a large advantage in size over Gamache, boxing legislators pushed for a new law requiring boxers not to exceed a certain amount of extra weight from the weight accorded on the day of the fight. After Gatti-Gamache, boxing commissions started weighing the boxers a second time, on the day of the fight.
Gatti then won his two other fights that year, over lesser quality name opponents.
Historic Trilogy against Micky Ward
In 2001, Gatti only had one fight, going up in weight to meet Welterweight Oscar De La Hoya, who beat him by a technical knockout in five rounds. In 2002, Gatti returned to the junior welterweight division and defeated former world champion Terron Millet by a knockout in round four.
He then split two ten round decisions with "Irish"
Micky Ward, losing their first bout, but winning their second. Gatti-Ward I also garnered "fight of the year" honors by
Ring Magazine.
On June 7 of 2003, he and Ward had a rubber match. The third fight between Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward had it all -- at least one fractured hand, two bloody faces, a stunning knockdown, and a screaming sellout crowd of 12,643 roaring its approval. Gatti broke his twice-repaired right hand on an uppercut to the hip in the fourth, and he dropped his arm, wincing in pain. He fought nearly one-handed for several rounds afterward, using his right sparingly. In the sixth, Gatti dominated the round but got caught with an overhand right to the top of the head a second before the bell rang and went down. Gatti then recovered again and was never in trouble after that. The final scorecards read, 96-93 , and 97-92, in favor of Gatti. The third fight between the two was again named "fight of the year" for the second time by Ring Magazine.
Career after Micky Ward
On January 24, 2004, Gatti also recovered from a broken hand, scored a tenth round knock-down and defeated Gianluca Branco of
Italy by a twelve round unanimous decision to win the WBC's interim junior welterweight title.
On July 24, 2004, he knocked out the previously unbeaten former world champion Leonard Dorin in two rounds at Atlantic City, to retain his interim title. It should be noted that Dorin was dropped with one single body shot.
Gatti's second defense of his interim title came against former world junior lightweight champion Jesse James Leija on January 29, 2005. Gatti beat Leija by a fifth round knockout.
In his next fight, Gatti lost to former Super Featherweight and Lightweight world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. on June 25. After six rounds, Gatti's corner threw in the towel, thus ending his title reign via sixth-round technical knockout.
After the loss to Mayweather, Gatti moved up to the welterweight division. He beat Thomas Damgaard on January 28, 2006 by an eleventh round technical knockout.
On July 22, 2006 Gatti was knocked out by
Carlos Baldomir vying for the WBC welterweight world championship.
Gatti has a record of 40 wins and 8 losses, with 31 wins by knockout.
Gatti Fights at Boardwalk Hall
His first big fight in
Boardwalk Hall came in 1997 against Gabriel Ruelas. But his box-office fortunes began booming there in 2002, after his first loss to Mickey Ward. Promoter Main Events booked the rematch at Boardwalk Hall, and a sellout crowd of 12,238 turned out to see Gatti win a 10-round decision. Six months later, the two squared off again at Boardwalk Hall. Since then, Gatti has become box-office gold, drawing capacity crowds or near-capacity crowds for five more fights in the building. At this point, this is the only venue in which Gatti's fights are held.
Boardwalk Hall's operators have even inducted Gatti into their "Boardwalk Hall of Fame," a wall-mounted concourse display that also features ticket stubs, autographs and photographs of fellow inductees
Cher,
Rod Stewart and
Neil Diamond.
See also
- List of male boxers
- List of notable boxing rivalries
- List of WBC world champions
- Notable boxing families
External links
