Tweet
As a fighter he made flesh nearly every cliché about the sweet science, the blood and guts battles in the ring, the rough and tumble life away from it, and now a violent and untimely end that in itself seems all too familiar.
On Saturday, Montreal's Arturo (Thunder) Gatti was found dead in a hotel room at the posh Porto de Galinhas beach resort in northeastern Brazil. He was 37. It appears that Mr. Gatti was strangled with the strap from a purse, and may have also suffered a head injury.
Brazilian authorities detained his wife, 23-year-old Amanda Rodrigues,and formally accused her of murder Sunday. The prosecution will decide whether to lay charges. Police are apparently unsatisfied with her explanation as to how she spent nearly 10 hours in the same room without noticing that her husband was dead.
Mr. Gatti was a warrior, a throwback, who seemed to have arrived fully formed from boxing's past, with a mug made for black and white, lifted straight from the Friday Night Fights.
But he was certainly no choir boy – not that there are a whole lot of those in the game in which he made his name. Away from the ring he had issues with alcohol and allegedly with drugs, and was most recently in trouble with the law following an accusation of domestic assault involving his wife. He was well known for enjoying the night life.
Arturo Gatti's legacy
The Globe's Stephen Brunt gives his take on the boxer's life and career
Download (*****)
Neither was he ever the best boxer on the planet, but for a time he was indisputably the most popular among the cognoscenti, dubbed by his promoters the “human highlight reel” with good reason.
He happily two took punches to land one, was inspired at the sight of his own blood, was forever fighting back from the brink of defeat, his eyes swollen to dark slits, making some people think of the fictional Rocky, some of the real Graziano, and others of the Raging Bull.
In the modern era, losing even once can be fatal to a fighter's marketability. Mr. Gatti was the exception. His appeal, his enormous box office power, was a product of his willingness to sacrifice, to battle back, sometimes to win, sometimes to lose, but always in a way that thrilled his legions of fans. He was in fact a skilled boxer, and over the years various trainers tried to persuade him to take a more safety-first approach. But in the heat of battle, Mr. Gatti invariably returned to slugging.
Fighting between 124 and 147 pounds, he took on some of the biggest names in the sport, including Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr., and at different times held two widely-recognized world titles.
But it's a testament to Mr. Gatti's crowd-pleasing style that in what were arguably his most memorable battles – his three remarkable fights with journeyman Micky Ward, of which Mr. Gatti won two – there was no championship on the line at all. Just two brave, honest pugilists leaving everything in the ring.
Arturo Gatti hits Thomas Damgaard during their IBA Welterweight Championship fight at Caesars Atlantic City on January 28, 2006 in Atlantic City, N.J.
Born in Italy, Mr. Gatti grew up in Montreal, and was already boxing by the time he was eight years old. At nine, he fought on a pro-am show that also featured all five of the city's fighting Hilton brothers and filled the Paul Sauve Arena. Like the Hiltons, he was a promising amateur who opted to turn professional early – as a 19-year-old – though he might have represented Canada at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
(Mr. Gatti and the Hiltons would eventually go their separate ways, but remained linked, in the end not happily – his sister Anna Maria was formerly married to Davey Hilton Jr., and is the mother of the two daughters he was convicted of sexually assaulting.) Rather than turning professional in Montreal, Mr. Gatti relocated to Jersey City, New Jersey, joining his brother Joe, who was also a boxer. He became a hometown hero there, fighting many of his most famous battles in the historic Convention Hall on the Atlantic City boardwalk, the same place where the Miss America pageant is held.
During a career that would last for 16 years and encompass 49 bouts, Mr. Gatti fought only once in his homeland – a less than memorable appearance in Montreal in 2000.
He retired in 2007 after losing three of his final four fights, obviously a spent force worn down by so many ring wars. Afterwards, he returned to Montreal, where he said he was hoping to build a new career investing in real estate.
There have been suggestions that, once removed from the rigid routine of training and fighting, like many boxers, he had been having trouble coping, and was even contemplating what surely would have been an ill-conceived comeback.
Instead, like those great fighters of the past, he is now the stuff of memory. Like them, the stories of his greatest bouts will be told and retold as long as boxing still breathes.
And like so many of them, his abrupt and brutal exit speaks to a sport that too often denies even its best a happy ending.
On Saturday, Montreal's Arturo (Thunder) Gatti was found dead in a hotel room at the posh Porto de Galinhas beach resort in northeastern Brazil. He was 37. It appears that Mr. Gatti was strangled with the strap from a purse, and may have also suffered a head injury.
Brazilian authorities detained his wife, 23-year-old Amanda Rodrigues,and formally accused her of murder Sunday. The prosecution will decide whether to lay charges. Police are apparently unsatisfied with her explanation as to how she spent nearly 10 hours in the same room without noticing that her husband was dead.
Mr. Gatti was a warrior, a throwback, who seemed to have arrived fully formed from boxing's past, with a mug made for black and white, lifted straight from the Friday Night Fights.
But he was certainly no choir boy – not that there are a whole lot of those in the game in which he made his name. Away from the ring he had issues with alcohol and allegedly with drugs, and was most recently in trouble with the law following an accusation of domestic assault involving his wife. He was well known for enjoying the night life.
Arturo Gatti's legacy
The Globe's Stephen Brunt gives his take on the boxer's life and career
Download (*****)
Neither was he ever the best boxer on the planet, but for a time he was indisputably the most popular among the cognoscenti, dubbed by his promoters the “human highlight reel” with good reason.
He happily two took punches to land one, was inspired at the sight of his own blood, was forever fighting back from the brink of defeat, his eyes swollen to dark slits, making some people think of the fictional Rocky, some of the real Graziano, and others of the Raging Bull.
In the modern era, losing even once can be fatal to a fighter's marketability. Mr. Gatti was the exception. His appeal, his enormous box office power, was a product of his willingness to sacrifice, to battle back, sometimes to win, sometimes to lose, but always in a way that thrilled his legions of fans. He was in fact a skilled boxer, and over the years various trainers tried to persuade him to take a more safety-first approach. But in the heat of battle, Mr. Gatti invariably returned to slugging.
Fighting between 124 and 147 pounds, he took on some of the biggest names in the sport, including Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr., and at different times held two widely-recognized world titles.
But it's a testament to Mr. Gatti's crowd-pleasing style that in what were arguably his most memorable battles – his three remarkable fights with journeyman Micky Ward, of which Mr. Gatti won two – there was no championship on the line at all. Just two brave, honest pugilists leaving everything in the ring.
Arturo Gatti hits Thomas Damgaard during their IBA Welterweight Championship fight at Caesars Atlantic City on January 28, 2006 in Atlantic City, N.J.
Born in Italy, Mr. Gatti grew up in Montreal, and was already boxing by the time he was eight years old. At nine, he fought on a pro-am show that also featured all five of the city's fighting Hilton brothers and filled the Paul Sauve Arena. Like the Hiltons, he was a promising amateur who opted to turn professional early – as a 19-year-old – though he might have represented Canada at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
(Mr. Gatti and the Hiltons would eventually go their separate ways, but remained linked, in the end not happily – his sister Anna Maria was formerly married to Davey Hilton Jr., and is the mother of the two daughters he was convicted of sexually assaulting.) Rather than turning professional in Montreal, Mr. Gatti relocated to Jersey City, New Jersey, joining his brother Joe, who was also a boxer. He became a hometown hero there, fighting many of his most famous battles in the historic Convention Hall on the Atlantic City boardwalk, the same place where the Miss America pageant is held.
During a career that would last for 16 years and encompass 49 bouts, Mr. Gatti fought only once in his homeland – a less than memorable appearance in Montreal in 2000.
He retired in 2007 after losing three of his final four fights, obviously a spent force worn down by so many ring wars. Afterwards, he returned to Montreal, where he said he was hoping to build a new career investing in real estate.
There have been suggestions that, once removed from the rigid routine of training and fighting, like many boxers, he had been having trouble coping, and was even contemplating what surely would have been an ill-conceived comeback.
Instead, like those great fighters of the past, he is now the stuff of memory. Like them, the stories of his greatest bouts will be told and retold as long as boxing still breathes.
And like so many of them, his abrupt and brutal exit speaks to a sport that too often denies even its best a happy ending.
