Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

“This fight could have went either way in my mind,” Micky Ward said in a post-fight interview. “It was a tough fight, close fight. It could have gone either way,” Arturo Gatti also said in the same post fight interview. This was one of those fights that you kind of wished would be ruled a draw. Both fighters gave so much of themselves, for our entertainment, that neither deserved a loss on their record. Neither fighter actually lost on this night. It was a night of nothing but winners, from the boxers to the announcers to the fans. This was a night where everybody won, in a way. Everyone had reason to celebrate about this particular fight.

It was mostly a boxing match for the first three and a half rounds. Gatti had a new trainer for this fight, Buddy McGirt, who would teach him more boxing skills than brawling skills, and everyone seemed to wonder if and when Gatti would resort to his old style. Gatti started out the fight at a blistering pace in round 1, putting on a clinic for Ward and cutting Ward over his right eye from the multiple combinations he landed, while bobbing and weaving, preventing Ward from connecting on the few shots he was able to get off in that round. Round 1 was clearly Gatti’s round and it was obvious that his new trainer has indeed turned Arturo Gatti into a boxer. The next two rounds were much of the same, with Gatti punching and moving, and Ward stalking him with his both hands up protecting his face, ready to throw punches the instant his target stands still. Midway through round four, Ward caught up to Gatti and rocked him with a big right overhand punch that changed the boxing match into a slugfest, right then and there. By the end of the round, a point would be deducted for a low blow by Gatti that sent Ward to the canvas. Confusion between the timekeeper and the referee prevented a five minute recovery period for Ward, as the round came to an end as referee Frank Cappuccino took away a point from Gatti for low blows.

“It is becoming the slugfest everyone anticipated despite Arturo Gatti’s skillful efforts to make it a boxing match in the early rounds” said Jim Lampley during round 5. “This is becoming Micky Ward’s fight! They’re fighting in a phone booth and that’s the way he wants it! It is man against man in there” he shouted. The last minute or so of round 5 was almost like a mini round 9. With its back and forth nature, just when you think Micky Ward was about to go down from such hard punishment by Gatti throughout the round, he comes back and almost takes Gatti down in the last 30 seconds of the round. Micky Ward’s face was covered in blood due to a cut over his left eye, and he was getting beat to the punch for the first two and a half minutes of the round. And just when you think he should go down, he fires off a flurry of punches to Gatti’s face, that it makes Gatti’s head bob like it was a speed bag. By the end of the round, Ward opened up a cut under Gatti’s right eye and after a punch or two after the bell; it appeared Gatti may have momentarily been out on his feet.

“You don’t fight with your head Arthur,” Referee Frank Cappuccino shouted at Arturo Gatti with about a minute left in Round 8. Gatti decided to go back to boxing during the first half of round 8, and he kept firing stiff left-right combinations at Micky Ward, many of which sent Ward into the ropes. But with just under a minute left in the round, as Gatti seemed to tire a bit, he started to lean in with his head, catching Ward in the face with his head during a clinch attempt, prompting Frank Cappuccino’s scolding. It was those possible head butts that seemed to awaken Micky Ward, as he fired back a solid right, and then a right, left combination with 49 seconds left in the round that sent Gatti retreating and covering up for the first time in the round. With 30 seconds remaining in round 8, Ward seemed to take total control of the round. With Ward stalking Gatti for the remainder of the round, connecting on most of the punches he threw, Gatti was sent into full retreat and looked exhausted. Gatti threw a few flurries in defense, but with very little on them, and very little effect on Ward. For the last 12 seconds of round 8, Micky Ward was teeing off on Gatti with vicious left, right and right, left, right combinations to the head and to the body, that it was nothing short of a miracle that Gatti was able to make it back to his corner at the bell. His legs were gone, he couldn’t put his hands up, and as he stumbled toward his corner, he was helped into his stool by his trainer Buddy McGirt. “Oh My Goodness! What a Fight!!” shouted Jim Lampley from ringside. “It looks like Micky Ward is trying to pull off another Emanuel Burton” said Emanuel Steward, referring to Micky Ward’s previous “2001 Ring Magazine Fight of the Year” when he pulled off an upset decision win over Emanuel Burton (now known as Emanuel Augustus). It was his performance in that fight that sealed the deal for the fight with Arturo Gatti. Ward would carry the distinction of being part of Ring Magazine’s Fight of the Year for two straight years, with two separate opponents.

It seemed illogical for Gatti to accept this fight. He had seemingly nothing to gain and so much to lose in this fight. It didn’t seem to be a smart career move, but it was one he accepted nonetheless. What else would we expect from the “ultimate blood and guts warrior”?! Arturo Gatti never shied away from a fight with anyone. He was one of the most exciting brawler-boxers of our time. Gatti was quite the opposite of Floyd Mayweather when it comes to excitement, while receiving only a fraction of the glory as Mayweather.