Arturo"Thunder"Gatti born April 15, 1972 is a Canadian professional boxer.Gatti was born in Italy to Italian parents,but his family moved to Canada when he was young and he was raised in Montreal.He has lived in Jersey City,New Jersey since 1991.
Gatti is considered by many boxing experts and fans alike to be one of the most exciting boxers living today.He has participated in Ring Magazine's "fight of the year" a total of four times(1997, 1998, 2002, & 2003.His brother, Joe Gatti, is also a professional boxer.
Professional Career:Arturo Gatti was a member of the Canadian National Team, and was training to represent Canada at the 1992 Summer Olympics, but at age 19 (in 1991),he decided to turn pro instead.He began boxing professionally on the night of June 10, 1991,with a third round knockout of Jose Gonzalez in Secaucus. He went undefeated for seven bouts before losing to King Solomon by a decision in six rounds on November 17 of 1992.
His next fight, on March 23,1993, was his first fight abroad,where he visited Amsterdam and knocked out Plawen Goutchev in round one.
1994 was a year when Gatti stepped up his quality of opposition.He started by beating Leon Bostic,and followed through with a win over Pete Taliaferro to win the USBA Jr.Lightweight title,by a knockout in round one. He retained the title against Richard Salazar and Jose Sanabria.Signing With HBO On December 15, 1995,Gatti challenged the IBF's world Jr.Lightweight champion, Floyd Patterson's adoptive son Tracy Harris Patterson.Gatti became world champion when he narrowly outpointed Patterson,and signed a multi-fight deal with HBO, to fight on HBO Boxing.
He only had 2 fights in 1996,once defending his world title. But his title defense,at Madison Square Garden against Dominican Wilson Rodriguez was the first of three Gatti fights in a row to be named a candidate for "fight of the year" by Ring Magazine.Dropped in round three and with his right eye closing fast, Gatti knocked out Rodriguez in round six to retain the title.In 1997, he repeated his points victory over Patterson,then scored a technical knockout over former world champion Calvin Grove in round seven of a non-title affair.Then came his defense against former world champion Gabriel Ruelas, which was also named "fight of the year" by Ring Magazine. Rocked by a left uppercut in the fourth, Gatti absorbed more than 15 consecutive punches before being saved by the bell.In the fifth, he connected on a left hook to drop Ruelas and end the fight.
Losing Focus After that fight,Gatti chose to relinquish the world title, going up in weight to the lightweight division.But 1998 was a bad year for Gatti, as he lost all three of his fights that year.He lost by a technical knockout in round eight to Angel Manfredy,and then lost a pair of close decisions in 10 rounds to Ivan Robinson.Gatti-Robinson I was chosen "fight of the year" by Ring Magazine,thus marking the third year in a row that a Gatti fight was given that award.He only had one fight in 1999, knocking out Reyes Munoz in round one.Controversy against Gamache
His first fight of 2000 proved to be controversial,however Faced with former world champion Joey Gamache, Gatti won by a knockout in round two. But when Gamache went into a coma for a day and it was discovered that Gatti had gained 19 pounds since the weight-in the day before and thus had a large advantage in size over Gamache, boxing legislators pushed for a new law requiring boxers not to exceed a certain amount of extra weight from the weight accorded on the day of the fight.Gatti was also accused by Gamache's handlers of not having actually made the contracted weight of 141 lbs.After Gatti-Gamache, boxing commissions started weighing the boxers a second time, on the day of the fight.Gatti then won his two other fights that year, over lesser quality name opponents.Historic trilogy against Micky Ward In 2001,Gatti only had one fight, going up in weight to meet Welterweight Oscar De La Hoya, who beat him by a technical knockout in five rounds.In 2002,Gatti returned to the junior welterweight division and defeated former world champion Terron Millet by a knockout in round four.He then split two ten round decisions with "Irish" Micky Ward,losing their first bout, but winning their second.Gatti-Ward I also garnered"fight of the year"honors by Ring Magazine.On June 7 of 2003,he and Ward had a rubber match.The third fight between Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward had it all at least one fractured hand,two bloody faces, a stunning knockdown,and a screaming sellout crowd of 12,643 roaring its approval.Gatti broke his twice-repaired right hand on an uppercut to the hip in the fourth,and he dropped his arm,wincing in pain.He fought nearly one-handed for several rounds afterward, using his right sparingly.On July 24, 2004,he knocked out the previously unbeaten former world champion Leonard Dorin.
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