The Stuff Of F****** Legends
There’s this word called destiny that often gets thrown around. When it comes to the epic battles between Arturo ‘Thunder’ Gatti and ‘Irish’ Micky Ward its befitting for the two ring warriors who traded losing brain cells for worldwide respect, specifically in their first bout back in 2002.
On May 18th, 2002 the boxing world was treated to what many fans, ringside observers and analysts still view today as the fight of the millennium when Arturo Gatti (34-5, 28 KOs) took on Micky Ward (37-11, 27 KOs) in a 10-round contest at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
The magnitude of this fight was minimal, as neither fighter were fighting for a world title in this fight. In essence, Gatti-Ward I was a fight for the true fans of the sport of boxing.
It didn’t disappoint.
From the get-go a frenetic and unbelievable pace from both fighters was set with fantastic confrontations taking place in the center of the ring between the two sluggers.
After eight wonderful and thrilling rounds of blood and guts action in front of a packed house at the Mohegan Sun Casino, the two fighters would produce in my eyes the greatest round I’ve ever seen in my almost 20 years of watching the sport. Below is my complete analysis of this earth shaking round.
Round 9 Is A Round For The Ages
After eating an unearthly combination of blows to end round eight after being hurt to the body by a left hook from Micky Ward, Arturo Gatti is spent, burnt out, done.
Or so it appeared as the conclusion of the round eight ended and Gatti was on the receiving end of 37 power punches at the hands of Ward in that round.
As round nine began, down on the scorecards according to HBO’s Harold Letterman, Micky Ward would start the round off by flooring Arturo Gatti at the 2:45 mark of the round with a left hook under the right rib cage of Gatti who reacted to the punch grimacing before back pedaling slowly and dropping to a knee.
Ward initially runs to the wrong corner before being directed by referee Frank Cappuccino to go into his actual corner as he awaited Gatti, who was currently rising in pain with his mouthpiece showing. Gatti, digging deep, conjures up the will-power to continue the fight by standing to his feet on the count of nine as he motioned to Cappuccino briefly that he was good to continue.
In a chaotic sequence following the action being resumed, Ward would hunt down Gatti in pursuit of a finish over a beaten and broken fighter, chasing him down with punches from pillar to post. Ward, with blood pouring from over his right eye, landed 20 plus unanswered punches in less than 30 seconds on Gatti who is in retreat mode and doesn’t fire back but doesn’t show he’s willing to quit this classic slugfest.
Gatti, after not throwing during Ward’s wild rally following the knockdown, fires a one-two that hits Ward but does little to back him up. Gatti begins to open up more, shooting a left hook before letting his hands go with Ward also committed to doing the same.
Gatti splits the guard of Ward with a straight right hand as Ward has his arms and gloves held high as a shield. Gatti then lands two hooks that look low on Micky Ward in a zombie-like effort from the Canadian born fighter.
Wearing white and blue trunks, Gatti paws away with a light jab at Ward’s guard simply to let him now that it’s there if nothing more before finding a opening to land good straight right hand counter. Ward lands a straight right-hand but then is greeted with a overhand left hook by Gatti which is followed up with Gatti splitting a pair of hooks through Ward’s high-block.
A somehow rejuvenated Gatti would find his way back into a round that couldn’t have started out any worse as he continued to blast away at Ward, splitting shots through his high-block once more that pops his head back.
Ward, in white, red and blue trunks that had his blood drying on them, is breathing heavily, perhaps having punched himself out with his urgency to try to finish off a fighter who looked every bit like he was ready to protect himself and not continue the fight. His activity has slowed, and Gatti has built momentum, almost closing the gap on Ward in terms of punches landed in the round.
So much has happened with well over a half of the round still left to go. Gatti working Ward’s body low on the belt and going high gets a tough but fatigue Ward to put his back on the ropes in a rare occurrence on this drama filled night in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Dishing out as good as he gets, Gatti was the one attacking Ward’s body with vicious intentions, showing his clear and grizzled mouthpiece with each devastating blow that was delivered to Ward’s aching body.
Ward, wiping off the blood sprinkling into his right eye, is being stalked by Gatti who he half heartedly tries to fend off. Gatti is teeing off on Ward, a left hook to the body, a right hook to the body, a straight right hand, all landing flush on Ward. The Irish fighter finds himself in serious trouble, or is he?
As Gatti punishes Ward along the ropes with strengthening punches, Ward shakes his head up and down briefly as if to say “Is that all you got?” to his opponent. Ward, after being heavily inactive for well over 40 seconds, unleashes a three-punch combination of jabs and straights that all land on the button of Gatti.
Gatti is unfazed by combination, still maintaining his aggression vs Ward on the ropes, chopping away at Ward’s body as he was paying him back for the suffering he had caused during this fight for himself.
It turns into a phone booth affair for a few seconds before Gatti ties up Ward to apparently get a breather and the two are broken up by Frank Cappuccino with a minute left in the round. Ward looks physically spent and gassed with his hands down after Cappuccino separates the two as Gatti too is breathing heavily.
As the fight resumes Ward beats Gatti, who is going to the body, to the punch with a straight right hand shot that lands cleanly on Gatti’s face which had shown signs of war. He again beats Gatti to the punch with another straight right hand as Gatti is trying to land his left hand on Ward.
Fainting with a right hand afterwards, Micky Ward attacks Gatti with a bone crushing left hook to the body followed by a left hook upstairs that forces Gatti to grimace as he retreats with his hands down low.
Hurting but still ticking, Gatti throws a jab to Ward’s body, but is met by a right uppercut and left hook by Ward, who like Gatti earlier, has found new life and adrenaline after looking completely gassed just moments ago.
Ward unleashes a violent combination on Gatti which starts with a jab to the body followed by a left hook to the body before coming upstairs with a left hook that lands and then a series of jab-straight combinations that also don’t miss the mark as the audience in attendance are on their feet cheering on the two ring warriors.
Ward has Gatti on the ropes now, hammering away at him with hooks and jab-straight combinations to the head and clobbering shots to the body. With 30 seconds to go in the round, Gatti, looking absolutely crushed by these shots, finds himself out on his feet going in the direction of a red Budweiser corner padding as Ward is seeking to finish him off.
Ward uses his left glove almost to line up Gatti against the ropes for a right-hand punch that would send his head bouncing back. Looking to survive a hellacious onslaught, Gatti ties up Ward with the ounce of strength still in him after a legendary round nine.
Frank Cappuccino separates the two fighters, with Gatti reluctant to come forward as he has his hands down completely near his sides with his back near the ropes with Ward, sweating and stinging, moving forward.
It’s a left hook which lands on Gatti from Ward as Gatti finds his way off the ropes and near the center of the ring. Gatti paws at Ward with a jab, who likely can’t believe what he’s seeing. It’s a strong right hook to the body from Gatti in the closing seconds of round nine, who missed wildly with a left hook.
Showing everyone all of the heart that you would expect to see from a prideful boxing warrior, Ward lets his hands go with jab-straights once again with a strong right hand landing. Gatti bounces off the ropes after Ward’s volume of punches, and Ward ends the round continuing his masterpiece by landing a few more shots along the ropes.
Arturo Gatti throws a left hook that splits the guard somewhat of Ward’s as the bell sounds to end the round with Micky Ward using his right glove to tap Gatti on the shoulder as to signal a show of respect at what the man was willing to do in order to win this fight against him.
The CompuBox numbers for round nine were something out of a video game. Micky Ward landed 60 of his 82 power punches which went for a 73 percent connect percentage while Arturo Gatti landed 42 of 61 punches at a 69 percent connect percentage.
The fight would be won by Micky Ward by majority decision as one judge scored the fight 94-94 as a draw but was overruled by two others who scored the fight 95-93 and 94-93 in favor of Mickey Ward, who won one the greatest fights not only in boxing history, but combat sports history.
The two would lock horns again at later dates in entertaining matchups with Arturo Gatti winning two unanimous decision victories over Micky Ward to take the trilogy. Ward retired after their third and final fight while Gatti fought seven more times before retiring from the sport in 2007.
Gatti unfortunately passed away at age 37 tragically on July 11th, 2009 on vacation in Brazil as he was found to be murdered by his now widow Amanda Rodrigues, who could not explain to police how she did not knowingly know Gatti was dead after more than ten hours. Cause of the death was suffocation.
What do you remember most about Gatti-Ward I? Leave your comments below!
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