Arturo "Thunder" Gatti, a Canadian boxer famous for his trilogy of amazing bouts with "Irish" Mickey Ward was found dead this morning at the age of 37. He was found in his underwear at a Brazilian condo he was renting with his wife for a second honeymoon. There was evidence of head trauma and blood on the back of Gatti's neck. His wife and 1 year old son were not home at the time.
Recent rumors indicated that Gatti, a two time fight of the year winner for his fights with Mickey Ward (who later became his trainer) was considering a comeback in small Canadian promotions.
Being a Canadian myself, Gatti was one of my favourites because he always seem to be the underdog coming into his fights.
A truly tragic loss and I'm sure he will be truly missed by all within the boxing community.
Your never going to get the argument that Arturo Gatti is the greatest fighter of all-time, or even the best in his weight class during his era, but that's isn't what people are going to remember Gatti by.
Gatti was a very good fighter, but he was able to do what few are, and that is get every last ounce out of his natural ability.
Arturo Gatti gave it his best every single fight, and while it wasn't always enough to win, you knew that whenever Arturo Gatti was in the ring you were in for a show.
I think that if your a boxing fan it's impossible not to like Arturo Gatti.
and that's probably why I liked him so much is because I knew when I watched his fights, he would not only give 100% effort but also attempt to bring the very best out of his opponent.
Very sad story and its almost starting to turn into a Steve McNair esc thing with reports of him being killed by his wife but McNair killed by his Girlfriend
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I believe in Family, I believe in Country, I believe in NASCAR
I watched a ESPN classic tribute to his career last night and it reminded me of something more I liked about Auturo, he managed most of the time to drag even the most techincal of boxers into a phone booth fighting style.
Authorities are now saying it was a suicide, but corruption and South American governments go hand in hand.
Who knows what happened, but the story the police are giving now almost completely contradicts everything that has been said about the situation so far.
-- Edited by pmoehrin on Thursday 30th of July 2009 04:08:58 PM
