Sports Articles: Boxing Legends Part 2 - Arturo Gatti page 2
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A first round TKO win over Darrell Singleton set him up for his first title shot, the USBA super featherweight belt. Pete Taliaferro was also dispatched in the first round by TKO to give Arturo Gatti his first title as a professional. He followed that up with a 10th round TKO of Richard Salazar in his first defence, before making a major step up in class to defend the belt against a former world champion, Jose Sanabria. It was the first time Gatti was taken to the 12th round as he won a unanimous decision over the former champ.
Gatti now had bigger things than national titles in his sights and he beat Roman Smolenkov (KO 1), Tialano Tovar (KO 1), Barrington Francis (TKO 6) and Carlos Vergara (TKO 1) to set himself up for a world title shot. The IBF super featherweight champion at the time was Tracy Harris Patterson, the adopted son of legendary boxer Floyd Patterson, and the pair faced each other on 15th December 1995. It was Gatti being Gatti that night as he won a unanimous decision 116-111, 115-112 and 114-113 to become a world champion and attracted the attention of HBO, who signed him to a multi-fight deal on the back of his performance. Gatti in the ring was a guarantee that it would be an exciting fight.
His next fight was the one that gave birth to his legend, it was the origin of his nickname, 'The Human Highlight Reel', as he defended his world title against Dominican Wilson Rodriguez. Rodriguez was hand picked by Gatti's manager Pat Lynch to be a 'gimme'. He was meant to be the easy option. Like everything in Gatti's life, nothing was easy when he was around and this fight was just another. Madison Square Garden hosted the fight which was shown on HBO's 'Boxing After Dark' on 23rd March 1996.
The first round saw Gatti being given a lesson in boxing as Rodriguez picked him apart, his left eye left cut and swollen as he sat down after the bell. The second round was more of the same, this time his right eye was also opened up before he was knocked down, his first genuine knockdown according to him. Pat Lynch said later: "Before the fight he had purchased a BMW sports car, and I kept saying, 'Arturo, just wait till after the fight,' but he bought it anyway. He always had to have something to keep him busy, you know? So they asked him after the fight: 'What was the first thing that went through your mind when you got dropped?' He said, 'there goes my BMW, and Pat Lynch just had a heart attack.' He was almost right about the second part." Gatti was up at the count of 2.
The third round saw a change as Gatti, despite his cut and swollen eyes, turned the fight into a brawl, a slugfest like it was the final round and there was no need to hold anything back for the other nine rounds that were due to follow. At one point Gatti pinned Rodriguez to the ropes for a period which brought the crowd to its feet, but Rodriguez managed to get out of there and continued to pick at Gatti's eyes. As Gatti sat down at the end of the round his cutman was involved in what was almost a full-on shoving match with the ringside doctor, Stephen Gelfman, until the doctor told the cutman to back off so he could take a look at Gatti's eyes.
"Cover your left eye," Dr Gelfman ordered Gatti. Gatti told him, "I'm all right." "Cover your left eye or it's over!" the doctor yelled. Gatti covered his left eye with his left eye for about a second. "I said cover it!" This time Gatti complied and then answered correctly both times when asked how many fingers the doctor was holding up. Urban legend has it that one of Gatti's cornermen were tapping a finger on his back the same number of times as the doctor was holding up fingers. Lynch denies that there is any truth in that suggestion though.
The fight became even more brutal in the 4th round, Rodriguez hurt Gatti and had him reeling in the corner at one point, but Gatti fought back and, by the end of the round, he was hitting Rodriguez who was no longer replying with shots. The doctor returned to test Gatti's vision once more, but something far more significant was happening in the other corner, as Rodriguez was being advised to stay away from Gatti. The fight was turning. Despite handing out a boxing lesson early on, Rodriguez had no answer to Gatti's iron chin and brutal punching power.
Gatti turned to the body in the 5th, something that became a signature for him in his career, along with the low blows that saw him docked a point for in this round. However the body shots worked and a wicked shot to the liver dropped Rodriguez to his knees for an 8 count. The Dominican was in obvious pain but made it to the end of the round. Rodriguez came out for the 6th looking like a man whose spirit was broken and, sure enough, Gatti swarmed him and a left to the body had him in trouble before a left hook smashed him off his feet and out for the count. So much for an easy first defence! It was the first of four of Gatti's fights to be nominated for Fight of the Year.
Boxing Legends Part 2 - Arturo Gatti page 3
Written by Tris Burke - June 25 2018 19:55:06
