By Dr. Peter Edwards
The New Year is off to big start, and we are still in the month of January. The last major January card features the only man to possess a style so exciting that experts dubbed him the "human highlight reel". Arturo "Thunder" Gatti returns to the ring against undefeated danish fighter Thomas Damgaard.
In the wake of this year's recent string of upset wins by Carlos Baldomir, O'Neil Bell and Manny Pacquiao - will Gatti be the next major star to fall prey to the underdog?
Some say yes, some say no.
The uneducated boxing mind would say that Gatti is a shot fighter, basing that theory upon their observation of his most recent loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. Whether or not Gatti is actually a shot fighter, as a result of too many wars in the ring, had nothing to do with the Mayweather result.
There is an old saying in boxing, styles make fights, and Gatti's style is custom made for a fighter with the quick relexes of someone like Mayweather. Just think about this for a moment, Mosley beats De La Hoya, Forrest beats Mosley, Mayorga beats Forrest, Spinks beats Mayorga, Judah beats Spinks and Baldomir beats Judah. The long time theory of styles make fights has never been so clear when you start to review the abundance of upsets during the last few years in the welterweight division.
As shown in the previously mentioned outcomes, Mayweather had Gatti's number before the bell rang to start the first round. The writers knew it, the experts knew it and Mayweather certainly knew it.
Did all the wars suddenly take their toll on Gatti? Possibly. But, we should keep in mind that prior to the Mayweather loss, Gatti appeared to be a rejuvanted fighter that most saw to be in the best fighting shape of his career.
The bout will take place in Gatti's backyard of Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Mayweather bout took place there too, and the hometown crowd did not help Gatti win. It all boils down to one on one combat, nobody outside of the ring can help Gatti fight his fight.
What do we know about the 34-year-old Thomas Damgaard from Denmark. Not much. We do know that name fighters should never take unknown competition lightly. Damgaard sports an impressive undefeated record of 37-0 with 28 knockouts on the outside, but what exactly is on the inside of that record.
Damgaard stopped former WBA 140 pound champion Khalid Rahilou back in 1999, he also stopped a way past his prime Greg Haugen in the same year. There was a unanimous decision win over former IBF lightweight champion Phillip Holiday in 2000. Since the win over Holiday, Damgaard has faced a string of no-hopers. Most of his bout for the last couple of years, have only been scheduled for 8 rounds. There could be an issue with his stamina, and that wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
The guy seems to have some lead in his fists, but is it enough lead to keep an aggressive Gatti at bay. Damgaard is the total opposite of Mayweather, he relies on his power to win, his defense is mediocre and his reflexes are not that quick. In other words, he will not be able to run or use his feet to outbox Gatti. We are going to see a fight because Damgaard will eventually get cornered and will be forced to fight in order to defend himself. Do you remember the last time you saw a boring Arturo Gatti fight? I can’t, I don’t think a boring Gatti fight exists. Even the loss to Mayweather as one-sided as it was, had plenty of drama from start to finish.
Many questions lurk. Did Gatti mentally recover from the loss to Mayweather? Is Damgaard another Carlos Baldomir ready to strike?
The good news is that Gatti stated to many at a recent press conference that unlike Zab Judah, he is taking Damgaard very seriously because he expects a tough fight. Gatti predicted victory, but when Gatti is involved – victory is never a sure thing. Then again, that’s what makes his fights so exciting to watch. You never know what could happen when you watch a Gatti fight.
More good news is that Gatti seems very focused on the task at hand. There was very little mention of fighting WBC welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir, which is likely to happen if Gatti wins as expected. A very different scenario from the multiple press conferences and interviews involved Zab Judah, where the Brooklyn badboy barely spoke about his opponent and was more concerned with his April date with Floyd Mayweather.
Judah paid the price that Gatti is not willing to pay, a hard defeat for overlooking what appears to be an overmatched opponent. When the two fighters step in the Boardwalk Hall ring, expect fireworks, expect excitement, but one thing is for sure, do not expect to see Arturo Gatti overlooking Damgaard or give anything less than 100%.
