11 years ago today, Arturo Gatti had just finished his 2nd bout of a thrilling trilogy with Micky Ward. He was never the same as a fighter though. Although his star appeal was never greater and he went onto higher profile bouts, Arturo left everything he was, in the Ward trilogy. On cold, thunderous nights, I'm reminded of the late, Arturo Gatti. I'll refer to him as … [Read more...]
What If Title Fights Were Still 15 Rounds?
Welcome to another edition of What If, the boxing column that always goes the full championship distance: When Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini killed Duk Koo Kim in a fourteen-round televised execution on November 13, 1982, the major boxing sanctioning bodies used that as the catalyst to reduce championship fights from 15 rounds to 12. The WBC acted immediately; their first … [Read more...]
The New York State Athletic Commission And Their Inept Ring Doctors: Perfect Together
by Myron Usher In the movie Gladiator, Russell Crowe’s character, Maximus, stands exhausted in the center of an arena after brutally slaying a dozen challengers and angrily asks the blood-thirsty audience “Are you not entertained!? Is this not why you are here!?” Hand to hand combat is one of mankind’s earliest spectator sports. From depictions of wrestlers in prehistoric … [Read more...]
Legendary Nights: Gatti-Ward Trilogy the Subject in Series Return
10 years after its initial 12 episodes ran, HBO’s “Legendary Nights” program returns this Saturday night, and couldn’t have picked a better way to premier; the Arturo Gatti-Micky Ward trilogy will be the topic of the program. The acclaimed HBO series originally aired in 2003, featuring episodes covering 12 of the biggest fights in recent decades of boxing history. Each … [Read more...]
Silkov’s Top Ten Most Exciting Fighters of All Time
Boxing fans love a list. There is just something about boxing and lists that go together. Like cookies leading to the invent of chocolate chips or the bicycle leading to the car-- boxing stokes the flames of list makers. Whether it is a list of top contenders, Champions, or fights we’d like to see, or even fights we don’t want to see. We’ve all either written or read a boxing … [Read more...]