JOHN WIGHT enthuses over the newly-crowned WBO champ, who ditched the 9 to 5, for professional boxing
Latest editorial
Twelve years later, Gatti’s absence is sorely felt
A giant personality out of the ring who brought thunder within it, the Canadian gave us some of the most memorable fights in our sport's history
Arturo Gatti
[Chamber of Fear/Creative Commons 2.0]
IF STILL with us, Arturo Gatti would at 49 have been able to look back on one of the most spectacular and dynamic boxing careers of the modern era — a fighter revered by those old enough to have had the privilege of watching him in action in his prime, while also being held up by the current generation of fight fans as a throwback to a bygone era when fighters fought as much for pride as they did money.
Gatti’s untimely death at 37, by an apparent suicide in Brazil on July 10 2009, robbed boxing of a giant personality to match the giant heart and courage for which he was renowned in the ring. He was a deeply troubled man whose hardest fight, which he lost that fateful night in Brazil, was against his own demons.
In the ring he brought thunder and was part of perhaps the most thrilling and explosive trilogy of fights ever fought, against the equally legendary Micky Ward.
Similar stories
JOHN WIGHT takes us on a journey back to a decade defined by union power, pop stars, and gritty football icons - no boxer embodied the heart and soul of 1970s Britain quite like Dave Boy Green
JOHN WIGHT questions how legend of the sport Roberto Duran is lending credibility to the sportswashing circus that is Riyadh Season — and at what cost?
JOHN WIGHT writes on the life and illustrious career of Dick McTaggart – perhaps the most underappreciated boxer in history
