ARTURO GATTI TRIBUTE

A lightweight and super lightweight world champion, Arturo Gatti was everyone’s favourite Italian-Canadian professional boxer.

Holding the IBF Junior lightweight title from 1995 to 1998 and the WBC super lightweight title from 2004 to 2005, ‘Thunder’ competed in four Ring Magazine fights of the year and even represented the Canadian national boxing team.

Born in Italy before moving to Canada and then finally America, ‘The Human Highlight Reel’ was in 2012 posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, his career an extraordinary one.

Declining the opportunity to represent his country (Canada) at the 1992 Olympic Games, Gatti turned pro aged just 19. Victorious against Pete Taliaferro to win the USBA super featherweight title in 1994, this was a fighter who grafted hard to get to the top.

Never afraid to challenge the sport’s biggest names, the ‘Blood and Guts Warrior’ faced the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2005, Oscar De La Hoya in 2001 and on three occasions, Micky Ward. Two of the three fights against Ward won fight of the year accolades and will be remembered by fans forever. Whilst unsuccessful against Mayweather and De La Hoya, Gatti beat Ward twice in the space of a year during 2002 and 2003.

With top level sport comes its setbacks. Fortunate enough to compete all over the world, a broken hand in the early noughties briefly put Gatti’s career on hold. Boasting a 40-9-0 fight record, the aggressive, all-action boxer used his punching power and ‘sluggish’ style to build a fruitful portfolio.

Breaking off his relationship with Buddy McGirt and seeking guidance from former rival Micky Ward in a training capacity, ‘Thunder’ announced his retirement in 2007. His decision made in the dressing room following his loss to Alfonso Gomez in New Jersey, Gatti reportedly said: “I’m coming back, but as a spectator.”

Entering the real estate industry as a new chapter in his life after boxing, the young father had his whole life ahead of him. Tragically pronounced dead in 2007, Gatti was only 37 when he died suspiciously on vacation in Brazil. A privately funded 10 month investigation by a panel of forensic evidence experts concluded the former junior welterweight champion was murdered.

Leaving behind a thrilling legacy, Gatti would have turned 51 last week.

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Noah Abrahams articles