The Ugly Truth About Arturo Gatti's Career (??)

[DIOS DOMINICANO]

Arturo Gatti tried to fight decent opposition early in his career, and lost to nearly all of them.

In the second-half of Gatti's career, he and his management team decided to just go for the money, and to make fights up in the Northeast where his fanbase is situated. Their strategy was to find predominantly white fights with good records that Gatti can beat. Examples follow.

Joey Gamache - white fighter with excellent 55-3 record. Gatti outweighed him by a rumoured 18 lbs on fight night. And ended Gamache's career.

Micky Ward - Micky had a journeyman's record, but their first fight was one of the most brutal ever, and the trilogy is the stuff of boxing lore.

Gianluca Branco - Excellent record of 32-0. Had never fought outside of Italy before. Who had heard of this guy pre-Gatti?

Leonard Dorin - Excellent undefeated record, although he had a controversial draw with Spaddy. Gatti stopped him on a bodyshot, and ended Dorin's career (noticing a trend yet?)

Thomas Damgaard - Excellent record of 37-0. had never fought outside of Denmark (really, how does Gatti find these guys?). Had you ever heard of Damgaard pre-Gatti? Gave Arturo a good tussle, and Gatti showed that he had mostly recovered from the PBF fight.


A friend brought this up to me when he noticed the pattern. The fanbase of Gatti's fights (despite being between NYC and Philly) is almost exclusively white. So Gatti stacked his cards with (mostly crappy) white fighters with overblown records. The other opponents were hispanics with white complexions.

QUESTION: Is it purely coincidental that the only black fighter that Gatti faced in nearly seven years was the big-money Mayweather PPV fight? ...Or is there something else at play here?

( NOTE: IF YOU CAN'T TALK ABOUT RACE WITHOUT BEING RACIST, IGNORE THIS THREAD AND MOVE ALONG).

[$iN]

Well, I don't know if Gatti intentionally chose white opponents but he was clearly looking for easy opposition to beat. At 140, he never tried to face any of the top 5 fighters at a time when the division was stacked...

[kayjay]

Take the race out and I co-sign, Gatti wasn't elite by any means. Ivan Robinson is a perfect example of a northeast native (Philly) who could make a good show with Gatti in AC. Gatti didn't pick on white guys; nor did he avoid the elite fighters, he just got destroyed by them.

[ianwigley]

Arturo Gatti tried to fight decent opposition early in his career, and lost to nearly all of them.

In the second-half of Gatti's career, he and his management team decided to just go for the money, and to make fights up in the Northeast where his fanbase is situated. Their strategy was to find predominantly white fights with good records that Gatti can beat. Examples follow.

Joey Gamache - white fighter with excellent 55-3 record. Gatti outweighed him by a rumoured 18 lbs on fight night. And ended Gamache's career.

Micky Ward - Micky had a journeyman's record, but their first fight was one of the most brutal ever, and the trilogy is the stuff of boxing lore.

Gianluca Branco - Excellent record of 32-0. Had never fought outside of Italy before. Who had heard of this guy pre-Gatti?

Leonard Dorin - Excellent undefeated record, although he had a controversial draw with Spaddy. Gatti stopped him on a bodyshot, and ended Dorin's career (noticing a trend yet?)

Thomas Damgaard - Excellent record of 37-0. had never fought outside of Denmark (really, how does Gatti find these guys?). Had you ever heard of Damgaard pre-Gatti? Gave Arturo a good tussle, and Gatti showed that he had mostly recovered from the PBF fight.


A friend brought this up to me when he noticed the pattern. The fanbase of Gatti's fights (despite being between NYC and Philly) is almost exclusively white. So Gatti stacked his cards with (mostly crappy) white fighters with overblown records. The other opponents were hispanics with white complexions.

QUESTION: Is it purely coincidental that the only black fighter that Gatti faced in nearly seven years was the big-money Mayweather PPV fight? ...Or is there something else at play here?

( NOTE: IF YOU CAN'T TALK ABOUT RACE WITHOUT BEING RACIST, IGNORE THIS THREAD AND MOVE ALONG).

Laugh at this post folks...dude don't have anything better to talk about. Everything in this post above is biased horse****.

[Phantasm]

Actually, yes I had heard of both Branco and Damgaard before he faced Gatti. Most knowledgeable fans did. And I dont think Gatti was an elite fighter. He was slightly better than average but never elite. And because he wasnt elite, it doesn't take anything away from his storied career.

And I'm not sure where you are getting at on him not facing an african-american fighter in 7 years; you mention talking 'about race without being racist', yet what does an individuals' race have anything to do with what you are talking about? Because if you are suggesting that an african-american fighter is superior to a caucasian fighter (and that's the only conclusion I can make based on your statement, unless I am wrong; I mean what do you mean by 'something else at play here'?) then I dont know what's more racist than that.

[GTL]

dude.. seriously.. stop posting useless **** man..

i just went to see his last fight man.. there was plenty or black ppl and hispanics for that matter.. they just wanna see exciting fights bro.. get over it. 1

[Jim_Davis]

You're ******ed to believe that Gatti's manager sat down and said "lets only fight white fighters". MORON. RED K.

[Brother Blues]

Great post!!!!....I offer no explanation,other than to say that he did benefit from 'expert' match-making.

The silly thing is,some here would put him in the Hall of Fame.
Which would make the Hall a joke....

[DIOS DOMINICANO]

Take the race out and I co-sign, Gatti wasn't elite by any means. Ivan Robinson is a perfect example of a northeast native (Philly) who could make a good show with Gatti in AC. Gatti didn't pick on white guys; nor did he avoid the elite fighters, he just got destroyed by them.

1) the race SEEMS to be a part of it, and I'm not sure that we should take it out.

2) Gatti didn't avoid the elite fighters? He spent essentially his entire career (ten years) at 135/140. How did he NOT fight Casamayor, Corrales, Corley, Vivian, NDou, Raheem, Forbes, Campbell, Witter, Mosley, Judah AND Cotto, Tszyu, Freitas, etc, etc?

Doesn't that seem odd to you?

[Steak]

What can I say? Gatti's managers are smart as hell. Youre more or less correct, although I hold those fighters he beat and Arturo higher than you, from the sound of it. Stylistically Gatti could easily get beaten if he was watched up against the right guy, but I remember Damgaard being in the top 5 WWs rated by ring magazine before, and a few other fighters he beat were also highly regarded.

and people tend to forget that Gatti won a good majority of the rounds in the first Ward fight, but controversely lost on points. I think Lederman had it a draw at the end...and Ward lost the other two fights pretty easily. Hes not the cream of the crop, but Gatti IS a multi-weight class champion, beaten some very good fighters, and has been in top 10 lists many, many times. Not nearly as bad as some people make him out to be nowadays...
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