A Great Fighter Steps Away From The Sweet Science (Hopefully)
Sunday, July 15, 2007
(posted by OMDQ)
Boxing lost one of the toughest fighters in recent memory on Saturday when Arturo Gatti dropped a seven-round decision to Alfonso Gomez and announced his retirement from the sport. Though boxing retirements rarely stick - I believe it was Rocky Balboa who said that fighters can't just turn "it" off and on as they please; they HAVE to fight - I hope for Gatti's sake that this is it. He is 35 years old, has absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment throughout his career, and should make an effort to get out while he still has his health.
Follow along after the jump to view some of Gatti's work. It's not his best, in my opinion - that honor goes to the epic trilogy against Mickey Ward in 2002-03. Three of those rounds are available below (last video), but the clip I wanted, the one I posted on One More Dying Quail a couple of months back, has been pulled from YouTube. We'll just have to make do with Floyd Mayweather (2005) and Oscar de la Hoya (2001).
6 Comments:
i concur. gatti needs to quit now before his brain turns into a small pile of lasagna. AND fuck larry merchant.
Harold Lederman for life son. What!
PS: Lennox Lewis is a tool.
@bohchris: I was thinking the same thing; those interviews were painful to watch. I expect the fighters to sound a bit brain-damaged, but the on-air "talent" should at least be able to form a complete question.
The Mayweather vs. Gatti fight was Mayweather at his best. I felt bad for Gatti. That fight was incredibly one sided. I liked Gatti's quote "Floyd hasn't felt power like mine, everytime I hit him I'm going to hurt him." That's all well and good but Gatti never really hit him. I realize the video selection isn't great, but this is like doing a tribute to John Elway and showing him in the Super Bowl against the 49ers.
anonymous - I hear ya. I really wanted to use that Gatti-Ward one (thirty minutes of brutality) mentioned in the post, but YouTube killed it.
Gatti should retire after getting KO'd by Gomez. he has contributed a lot to the fame of boxing and he has been in too many wars. He should now walk away before he becomes permanently injured. We all love to see him fight but we don't want him to get hurt.
The one who needs to retire is Larry Merchant. Did you see his rambling before the Williams/Marguerito fight? Totally senile. He can't even look at the camera.