A True Fighter Goes Down
This is hard to believe if you’re a boxing fan and you knew what kind of boxer Arturo “Thunder” Gatti was.
Gatti was murdered Saturday in Brazil and the accused way he was murdered is dumbfounding. His wife Amanda Rodrigues is the one who is the main suspect after Gatti was strangled with a purse strap in their hotel room. Apparently Ms. Rodrigues claims she didn’t know he was dead – although she was in the room for 10 hours before she made any kind of reaction.
Personally, as a former boxing editor at the Tampa Tribune, I loved watching Gatti. He was a tough-as-nails fighter, who just the mere image of him in the ring looked as if was one of the old-time boxers from the 1930s. Gatti never gave up as he was a bulldog in the ring and pest to opponents.
I remember the trilogy of fights he had with “Irish” Mickey Ward, especially the third fight where Gatti broke his hand early in the fight, basically fighting with one hand and still won the bout.
Despite the three Rocky-esque fights he and Ward had, the two would go on to be good friends. In fact, Ward trained Gatti for several fights before Gatti retired two years ago.
Gatti was one of the best and most enjoyable to watch. A true fan of boxing knows they loved to watch champions like Gatti, Mickey Ward or a good friend of mine - Winky Wright. These guys fight with heart and the true Sweet Science, not the barroom brawl crap of UFC or MMA fighting.
This is a sad ending to a great fighter.
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