Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward: Just as Great Years Later

HBO did boxing fans a great service this weekend by replaying the three classic fights between Micky Ward and the late Arturo Gatti. Viewing them again was a real pleasure.

I watched all three fights live, but I hadn't seen more than a few seconds of highlights from them in the last five years, so I went into the re-airing with a fresh set of eyes. The first thing that jumped out at me is that these fights really were amazing. Sometimes you go back and watch a classic sporting event from the past and it doesn't feel like it deserves its legendary status. If anything, the Gatti-Ward trilogy has gotten better with age.

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Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward I: May 18, 2002
I think the first fight of the trilogy was the best, and it deserves a place among the handful of greatest boxing matches in the history of the sport. It was stunning the extent to which both Gatti and Ward shook off punishment, and by the end I agreed with HBO commentator Larry Merchant, who said, "I am humbled by watching these two guys."

Ward won a very close majority decision, and it's a decision I think he earned, even though I also think a 94-94 draw, as judge Frank Lombardi scored it, is completely reasonable. I had it 95-93 for Ward, which is how judge Steve Weisfeld saw it. The hardest round to score was the ninth, a round in which Ward battered Gatti so badly that HBO announcer Jim Lampley shouted at referee Frank Cappuccino to stop the fight. Gatti somehow stayed on his feet, giving us one more round of war.

It must be said, for as brilliant a display of boxing as Gatti and Ward gave us in that first fight, referee Frank Cappuccino did an absolutely horrible job. I don't want to list everything he did wrong, but I'll mention a few: Cappuccino didn't call time after Gatti landed a low blow in the fourth round, allowing time to expire and costing Ward the opportunity to get the five minutes to recover that he deserved. He awkwardly got into the boxers' way a couple of times, and at the end of the fifth he didn't separate them when the bell rang. In the seventh round, when Ward and Gatti clinched, Cappuccino failed to separate them, and then after they separated themselves, he yelled, "That's what I want to see." Uh, Frank? If you wanted to see them separate, why didn't you do it yourself?

Cappuccino aside, this was just about the perfect boxing match. It blew me away at the time, and it was a thrill to watch it again today.

Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward II: November 23, 2002
I had forgotten how thoroughly Gatti dominated the second fight. Whereas the first fight was great because it was such a back-and-forth battle, the second fight was great because Ward wouldn't quit even though Gatti was obviously getting the best of him.

Gatti knocked Ward down in the third round with a punch he would later describe as the hardest he ever threw, and it took a lot of heart for Ward just to make it through the third on his wobbly legs. But Ward did a lot more than that; he kept coming forward for seven more rounds and went the distance.

Gatti, however, showed that he had just as much heart as Ward, and superior boxing skills: Gatti won the fight by scores of 98-91, 98-91 and 98-90, and even that might have been a little generous to Ward. This was a dominant victory for Gatti.

Arturo Gatti vs. Micky Ward III: June 7, 2003
The third fight was, like Gatti-Ward I, chosen Fight of the Year by Ring Magazine. I also think it was the fight that best showed what a great boxer Gatti was. Gatti looked a little more like a tactical, well-conditioned boxer and a little less like a brawler in the early going, and his movement was just too much for Ward in the first three rounds.

Early in the fourth round Gatti broke his right hand on a hard punch to Ward's hip, and that forced him to dramatically change his style, throwing a whole bunch of left hands and grimacing in pain every time he had to use his right. After the round Gatti told his corner that he had broken his hand, but when his trainer asked what he wanted to do, he didn't hesitate: "I'm gonna keep fighting."

Even with a broken hand, Gatti was just too good for Ward, and he won the decision by scores of 97-92, 96-93 and 96-93.

Ward followed through on his vow to retire after the fight, and that was a very wise decision. The beating he had taken in these three fights with Gatti was enough for a lifetime. Gatti won the WBC light welterweight title in his next fight and successfully defended it twice before losing to Floyd Mayweather in 2005.

Gatti retired in 2007, with a record of 40-9. He died on July 11, and his wife, Amanda Rodrigues, has been charged with his murder.