Arturo Gatti vs. Jesse James Leija, Round by Round Coverage

By Rick Reeno

They should of called this fight the road to destiny as Arturo Gatti is one fight away from the biggest fight of his career. Should Gatti win Saturday night, he is already penciled in for big money showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr. on pay per view in the Summer. The man in Gatti's way is veteran Jesse James Leija, the man people call the comeback kid. Everytime Leija is counted out, he seems to come back to prove the public wrong. Leija landed the bout with Gatti after getting off the deck to decision rising star Francisco Panchito Bojado in July of last year. Leija will be making a $700,000 payday to Gatti's $2 million.

Leija said he is coming to fight and is ready to be the spoiler.

"His strengths are also his weaknesses. That warrior mentality of his, the way he'll let you hit him so he can hit you, that can work against him. If there's a fighter who can make him pay for that, he can be beaten. He may not be looking past me, but everyone around him is." said Leija

The Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City is sold out for what will be a packed house in favor of Gatti. Gatti is a heavy favorite to beat Leija, personally I agree with the odds being heavily in favor of Arturo. Gatti said it best after his trilogy with Micky Ward, if your not a powerful fighter then you don't stand a chance.

The main supporting bout is just as good, maybe even better in terms of potential action as IBF junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma faces fellow African fighter Kofi Jantuah.  Ouma is coming off of two big back to back wins, a 10 round TKO over J.C. Candello and a decision over Verno Phillips to grab the IBF junior middleweight strap. Jantuah is coming off a huge 1st round KO over Marco Antonio Rubio.

Both men share a single loss and both men got stopped in their only loss to fighters with poor records. Ouma's only loss came by way of a 1st round TKO at the hands of 10-16-1 Augustin Silva when the bout was stopped after Ouma went down three times in the first round. The three knockdown rule was in effect. Jantuah's only loss came by way of a 10th round TKO at the hands of 18-10 Manuel Gomez in a bout where Jantuah was leading and got caught with a single left hook that sent him into space. This fight has had plenty of hype coming into tonight's event, let's hope this is one of those fights that actually lives up to the hype.

*****Round By Round Has Officially Started, Reload Often*****

Right now they are going over Gatti's status among the top 140 pounders in the division. HBO has Gatti behind Tszyu, then Mayweather, followed by Cotto, Harris and Hatton.

IBF junior middleweight champion Kassim Ouma will face Kofi Jantuah in the first bout of the evening.

Jantuah is coming in tonight weight 166 pounds, Ouma is 160 pounds.

Ouma is being led down to the ring by Hasim Rahman.

Round 1 - Jantuah has come out on the attack with big shots to the body. Ouma is running around in circles around Jantuah. Ouma is now jabbing and moving. Jantuah with a left hook, Ouma backs into the ropes and Jantuah trying to get in big shots. Right by Jantuah. Both men trading in close, uppercut by Ouma. Right by Jantuah. Combo by Ouma, another combo by Ouma. Turning into a phonebooth kind of fight with both men fighting very close. Gave the first round to Jantuah. HBO gave it to Jantuah.

Round 2 - Both men are jabbing and now they are trading again real close. Neither man is landing clean with of their power punches. They are now shoulder to shoulder on the inside and trading shots. Right by Jantuah, combo by Ouma. Jantuah is missing plenty of big shots and Ouma is staying on top of Jantuah to smother his power punches. Ouma goes to the body. Uppercut by Ouma, Jantuah throwing some had shots but most were blocked. Ouma jabbing and landing a hard right. These men are non stop throwing punches on the inside. Ouma winning the round.

Round 3 - HBO gave Ouma round 2. Big right on Ouma. Jantuah has a cut on the right eyelid, not serious as of yet. Good left by Ouma, right by Jantuah. Ouma making Jantuah fight at a very fast pace, Jantuah starting to slow down. Ouma with a good left hand. Ouma now fighting from the outside and landing good jabs and powershots. Good bodyshot by Ouma, Jantuah misses a right and left. Uppercut by Ouma, now a combo by Ouma. They fight at close range again, they trade bodyshots. Easy round for Ouma.

Round 4 - HBO gave Ouma round 3. Ouma now taking it to Jantuah. Ouma landing shots up and down, throwing non-stop punches. Jantuah seems to be very frustrated by the speed and punch count ratio of Ouma. They fight close again and Ouma is landing more bodyshots. Good right by Ouma. Jantuah is missing many shots and Ouma is making him pay, hard left hook by Jantuah but Ouma keeps coming. Ouma just keeps landing shots to the head and body, Jantuah looks tired. Another round for Ouma.

Round 5 - HBO gave round 4 to Ouma. Ouma landing the jab from the outside, Jantuah lands a good right. Ouma running around and landing good shots. Jantuah with a hard right, another good right and Ouma keeps coming with more shots. Jantuah landing shots on Ouma against the ropes, Ouma blocking most of the shots. Jantuah staying on Ouma against the ropes and not letting him out. Ouma landing some good combos off the ropes and countering well. Ouma gets round 5 on my card.

Round 6 - HBO gave 5 to Jantuah. Jantuah gets Ouma back against the ropes and trying to keep him there to land some more punches. They are back in the middle, Jantuah trying to land hard shots but Ouma is slipping the punches and countering. Ouma just landed about 8 punches. Uppercut by Ouma. Combo by Ouma. Right by Ouma. Jantuah gets Ouma against the ropes and tries to land hard shots. Round goes to Ouma.

Round 7 - HBO gave the 6th round to Ouma. Ouma just landed some good shots on Jantuah and Jantuah looks like he is stunned. Ouma goes on the attack but lays off thinking that Jantuah is playing possum. Jantuah lands a hard right and another. Ouma with a combo. They trade at a close distance and Ouma is winning the exchanges well. Jantuah's head keeps flying back from hard shots and also rocking around for the last few rounds. They trade at close range and Jantuah getting the better against the ropes. Close round goes to Ouma.

Round 8 - HBO gave round 7 to Ouma. Jantuah is trying to land one punch to end the fight and Ouma is slipping the punches and wacking away at Ouma. Ouma is just knocking Jantuah all over the place with rapid shots. Jantuah with a bodyshot, now withe a left hook. Jantuah with an overhand right. Ouma with a nine punch combo, right by Jantuah. Four punch combo by Ouma, they start to trade but Jantuah is missing many shots with Ouma landing most of his. Ouma gets the 8th.

Round 9 - HBO gave 8 to Ouma. They go back to fighting at close range, Ouma landing some good shots with both hands. Ouma moving around and pumping his jab. Ouma is just coming with punches at all angles. Jantuah looks very tired and holding onto Ouma. Ouma is now landing at will while circling around Jantuah. Another uppercut by Ouma. Round 9 for Ouma. Ouma is landing that uppercut all night long.

Round 10 - HBO gave 9 to Ouma. Fighting at a distance with Ouma easily outboxing Jantuah. Jantuah looks like a very weary fighter at this point. Jantuah trying to get Ouma againts the ropes and land punches but is getting countered hard. Jantuah's face is starting to swell up. Ouma landing 4-5 punches to every punch Jantuah throws. Good left by Ouma, now a right. Ouma working the body. Round 10 goes to Ouma.

Round 11 - Ouma gets 10 by HBO. Ouma landing some great body punches with rapid fire action. Jantuah landing low, Ouma going back to the body. Ouma seems to be slowing but is still throwing and landing many shots. They are fighting close, Ouma landing and Jantuah missing. Ouma with a big right. Ouma with a big flurry of shots. Right by Jantuah, four punches in return by Ouma. Another round for Ouma.

Round 12 - HBO gave 11 to Ouma. Jantuah gets told that he needs a knockout to win. Jantuah with a jab, Ouma with a combo. Good combo by Ouma that snaps Jantuah's head back. Ouma now beating Jantuah against the corner. Ouma is still throwing a very high ratio of punches. Jantuah lands a great right, cant follow up with anything. They are trading against the ropes, Ouma blocking the shots and comes back with combos to the body. Ouma lands four punches in a row, two of them being uppercuts. Round is over. Big round to end the fight for Ouma. Jantuah knows he has lost the fight. HBO gave 12 to Ouma.

HBO scored it 118-110, I had it 119-109. Official scores are coming up.

118-110, 116-112 and 117-111 for the winner by unanimous decision and still the IBF junior middleweight champion Kassim "The Dream" Ouma.

Ouma threw 1088 punches in the fight and lands 48% of them with 502. Jantuah threw 915 punches but only landed 254.

Bernard Hopkins was interviewed, he said that he will put Howard Eastman away to get his 20th title defense. He said that Leija will bring the belt with him to Golden Boy tonight.

Jesse James Leija is coming down to the ring. Gatti coming down to an enormous ovation. He is with Micky Ward and Oz star Chuck Zito.

Leija looks pumped, getting booed by the crowd. Gatti has the whole building on their feet as he is announced.

Round 1 - They touch gloves at the start. They start jabbing. Gatti missing a big powershot, off balance for a moment. Crowd starts the Gatti chant. Both men in a jabbing contest. Gatti with a uppercut that knocks Leija back. Leija to the body. Leija jabbing to get in close to do bodywork. Gatti with hard jabs, Leija with a right. Leija to the body. Right by Leija, Gatti missing. Gatti jabbing well. Right by Leija. Left by Gatti. Close round that I gave to Gatti.

Round 2 - HBO gave 1 to Gatti. Gatti threw 54 jabs in round 1. They start jabbing again. Leija misses a three round combo. Gatti jabbing and throws a combo. Leija lands two rights. Gatti with a good left. Theys tart jabbing, right by Leija. Left eye of Gatti looks puffy. Great right Gatti. Gatti going back to the jab and using his legs well. Leija to the body. Hard bodyshot by Gatti, bodyshot by Leija. Gatti gets another close round.

Round 3 - HBO gave round 2 to Gatti. Gatti goes back to the hard jab. They get tied up, ref breaks them up. Fight is a jabbing contest, left to the body by Gatti. Gatti with a right hand. Right by Gatti. Solid right by Leija pushes Gatti back. They start to jab again. Both men miss some big shots. Gatti is jabbing. Both men begin to open up more. Leija with a right, Gatti jabbing away and moving. Gatti gets the third. Leija needs to take some risks to get inside or Gatti will keep jabbing him to death.

Round 4 - HBO gave 3 to Gatti, Gatti landed 58 jabs in the last round. Gatti is jabbing again and trying to setup powershots behind the jab. Leija trying to jab back, they trade bodyshots. Good right by Leija. Leija jabs and another right. Gatti jabs and lands the left. They trade, Gatti with an uppercut and left hook. Right by Leija. Right to the body by Leija. Another round for Gatti.

Round 5 - Leija's corner telling him to take it to Gatti and hurt him. HBO gave the 4th to Gatti. This entire fight has been in the middle of the ring so far. They go back to jabbinmg. Hard right by Gatti and Leija goes down hard, he gets up by round 9. They start brawling , both guys landing some hard shots. Gatti going for the kill. Leija with a left. Left hook on Leija's head drops him again. Leija can't get up by the count of ten and the fight is over.

Gatti gets a huge dominating win by way of a 6th round knock out. HBO will be speaking to Gatti in a few minutes. Gatti boxed and set everything up behind the jab.

Gatti threw an average of 45 jabs per round.

HBO said that Mayweather did not show up tonight to announce the Gatti fight and Mayweather did not show up for court today either. Gatti said that the deal and agreement is done for the Mayweather fight, he hopes that nothing happens with Mayweather's court issues and the fight comes off in the Summer.