Gatti-Mayweather: Who Will Prevail to Greatness?

On Saturday, June 25, boxing fans will be in for a treat. Oh and what a treat it is going to be as Arturo “Thunder” Gatti will finally be squaring off against Floyd “Pretty Boy” Mayweather Jr. in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This fight should be one for the ages; on one side you have pound-for-pound one of the most talented boxers ever seen

and across the ring you have a blood and guts warrior who is willing to die in the ring before losing. Let me start with Floyd Mayweather Jr. What can I say about this gifted athlete? In my opinion, Floyd has mastered the art of boxing and stands on a totally different level when it comes to defense. The only thing that makes it hard to like Floyd Mayweather is his cockiness and his ongoing problems outside the ring. His cockiness is a turn-off, but his problems outside the ring should not matter to anybody because they are nobodies business but Floyd’s; that is intruding on a man’s life and hey, haven’t we all made mistakes in life? So on that note, I’m leaving that alone and just going to talk about what Mayweather needs to do in order to get a victory over Arturo Gatti. For one, Floyd is going to need a football helmet because Arturo is looking to knock his head off.

You’ll have to keep up as SaddoBoxing takes its big fight build-up to the next level with more previews of this weekend’s super-fight.

I know I just said that Floyd Mayweather is one of the most talented boxers out there, but when thunder rumbles, it rumbles in every which way. If Mayweather decides to box, then Gatti is in for a long night, but if Floyd’s ego gets the best of him and tries to brawl with Arturo, then it is going to be a short night for Mayweather as he will be on the canvas and counted out. Back when Mayweather fought Jose Luis Castillo, I could not stand Floyd’s style as he ran from Castillo throughout both their entire bouts. I guess “Pretty Boy” got some heat from boxing critics saying that all he does is run in his fights because since the Castillo fights, Floyd has been squaring off and going toe-to-toe with all his opponents, including the likes of DeMarcus Corley, Phillip N’dou, the list goes on. That is when I became a fan of Mayweather’s boxing skills. He showed unique boxing skills as well as a big heart when deciding to mix it up in the middle of the ring.

Now let’s take a look at Arturo “Thunder” Gatti. Everybody knows Arturo as “the blood and guts warrior” who has given boxing fans some of the most exciting wars in boxing history. He has overcome adversity more times than Floyd Mayweather can count; Arturo has broken his hand in fights while refusing to call it quits and most important of all, totally rejuvenated his career with the epic battles he endured with his now good friend Micky Ward.

Gatti’s legend as a blood and guts warrior began with the Wilson Rodriguez fight. Rodriguez floored Arturo in the second round and had him with one eye completely shut, but Gatti rose to the occasion and wound up knocking Rodriguez out the very next round. Then there was the Ruelas fight, which was, “the come-back fight of the year” for Arturo, as he knocked out Ruelas as well. Then he suffered the losses to Manfredy, Ivan Robinson (twice) and the beating he took from Oscar de la Hoya in 2001. Those were Arturo Gatti’s dark days and as I mentioned before, I will not get into any of his mishaps, as that would be intruding on his personal life.

Arturo Gatti went back to the drawing board, got himself together and like a miracle sent down from heaven, found his way to trainer extraordinaire, Buddy McGirt. Their first test together as a team came about in the first Gatti-Ward battle when Micky Ward came out on top. Gatti might have lost the decision in their first fight but gained the respect of many boxing critics as Arturo boxed beautifully under the tutelage of Buddy McGirt.

Gatti-Ward II followed as it was war again, but this time Arturo totally out-boxed Ward to be the victorious one. The final chapter to this historic trilogy came months later when Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward slugged it out for the third and final time. Arturo once again broke his right hand in the beginning of the fight and had to rely on his newfound boxing skills in order to win by a unanimous decision. Gatti threw his right hand occasionally throughout the fight, but his superior boxing skills got him through the hard-fought battle that put both men in legendary status.

Leonard Dorin and Jesse James Leija were Gatti’s latest knockout victims. But before Arturo knocked Dorin and Leija out, he sure as hell schooled them on the art of boxing. I say, “the art of boxing,” because the way Gatti has been boxing, it truly is an art Arturo Gatti is one of my all-time favorite boxers and in my opinion, he is up to par with Mayweather’s boxing skills. Let’s put boxing skills aside; Arturo now has the upper hand because of his never-say-die attitude and will to slug it out, and as everybody knows, Arturo can slug like no other. Floyd has chosen to ignore that simple fact and that is why I am predicting another Arturo Gatti knockout. I cannot see it going past the fifth round if Floyd decides to go toe-to-toe with Arturo. Can you even begin to imagine Gatti vs. Hatton? Go Gatti!

Rich Saavedra can be reached at RASBoxing@aol.com