by Fox Doucette The two greatest junior welterweight fights of all time occurred twenty years apart. Aaron Pryor knocked out Alexis Arguello in the fourteenth round of a fifteen-round scheduled war in 1982; 20 years later, Micky Ward scored a majority decision over Arturo Gatti in the first of their three fights---Gatti would win the latter two fairly easily, but the first … [Read more...]
What If Arturo Gatti Never Fought Micky Ward?
by Fox Doucette Arturo “Thunder” Gatti and “Irish” Micky Ward put on what is, for your columnist's money, the greatest fight of the twenty-first century so far; better than Corrales-Castillo, better than the Israel Vazquez-Rafael Marquez fights, better than Matthysse-Molina, and for damn sure better than the “Fight of the Century”, Mayweather-Pacquiao. Ward-Gatti I, on May 18, … [Read more...]
My Next Five Favorite Rounds: 6-10
My first five were as follows: 1. Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo I (2005): Round 10. 2. Jake LaMotta vs. Laurent Dauthuille (1950): The 15th round 3. “Yaqui” Lopez vs. Matthew Saad Muhammad II (1980): Round 8. 4. Lee Roy Murphy vs. Chisanda Mutti (1985): Round 12: 5. Roy “Tiger” Williams vs. Earnie Shavers (1976): Round 10 Here are my next five: 6. Micky … [Read more...]
Ring Muggings: Part Thirteen
Gatti vs. Gamache (2000) "I don't know anybody outside of the Gatti camp who seriously maintains that Gatti made weight for that fight. They jumped him on and off the scale very quickly. It seemed pretty clear to me that someone at the commission had been told in advance that there might be a problem and the response was, 'Don't worry about it.'"—Thomas Hauser "I have … [Read more...]
Revisiting Tapia: Fallen Warriors
by Eric Duran Fans cheer, as blood flows from a cut. As a war wages on between two gladiators, spectators watch in awe, on the edge of their seats. Fighters are immortalized by how brutally they compete inside the ring; under the bright lights, in big venues, in small, smoked filled warehouses. Fighters risk their health, for pennies on the dollar, for the entertainment … [Read more...]