Tired of waiting for Floyd Mayweather Jr. to agree to terms for a June
11, 2005, showdown, Arturo Gatti has announced that he is no longer
considering Mayweather Jr. as an opponent for the aforementioned date,
it was announced today by Main Events CEO Kathy Duva.
“Promotion for this fight should’ve started a long time ago,” said
Gatti. “I should’ve been in camp already preparing for it. He’s
killed the whole promotion. I was happy after he resolved his legal
problems and didn’t have to go to jail, but then he didn’t sign the
contract. I kept waiting and waiting and extending the deadline, but
it still never came.
“I don’t have time for that. It’s his problem if he’s having problems
with his promoter. He screwed this fight up. Maybe after June 11
he’ll have his shit together and we can try and sit down again because
I want the fight. But I’ll find someone else for June 11. He can talk
all he wants, but it’s his fault this fight isn’t happening.”
Gatti made his decision this afternoon after Mayweather’s promoter Top
Rank informed Main Events (Gatti’s promoter) that Top Rank would be
unable to get Mayweather to sign a contract by the agreed upon deadline
of 5:00 pm ET on March 4.