Gatti v Ward 1

That fight and Castillo corrales best two fights in long time.

 

And truly loved each other at the end of nearly killing each other lol...They were bro's after it all... Totally great great rivalry..

 

UNBELIEVABLE fight, not just because of the violence but the shifts in momentum, the drama.
Both took a whole careers worth of punishment just in the first fight.
Gatti must have had some kind of abnormal skull because he went through a huge number of brutal wars and as far as i know wasnt punch drunk and even had some decent performances after the ward trilogy. Usually aa fighter takes the kind of damage that gatti did in just one of his wars, and the fighter has a good chance of being ruined

 

Gatti might have started to develop pugilistic dementia. He behaved very erratically on the night of his death, but there was a lot of alcohol involved too.

 

Of course they loved each - they made each other millionaires!

 

I've never understood why so many boxing fans hold onto this idea that two combatants have to "hate" each other.

It's a sport. And these two sportsmen elevated it - and each other - to the highest level of competition.

I remain in awe of what they gave to us, to boxing and to each other in three fights that will never be forgotten.

 

I have quite a few of Gatti's fights on DVD; probably most of his televised career.

Gatti vs. Ward I is a bout I'll quite happily watch again and again - and often, when I've casual and non-boxing fan friends around and the sport comes into conversation, I'll play it for them.

Not once has it failed to leave the viewer spellbound.

While critics might argue the level of quality in their matches, this is to entirely miss the reason why the Gatti and Ward fights were such a great success. To my mind, the pair of them were so well matched; each carrying that competitive strain and self-belief, their spirit captured the imagination of thousands.

They're not the only ones to do this, of course, but Gatti vs Ward I is potentially one of most widely engaging viewing experiences in Boxing, having made the sport accessible to the minds of those who previously would never have considered themselves fans.

 

Sometimes I wonder how many absolute wars there were between tough guys back in, say, the 40's and 50's. Fights that may of made all time great lists of fights if anyone knew anything about them, you know? Small shows, maybe the films lost, maybe the fight was never even filmed. You'd have to be one of a few hundred people there in person in some cases to of know of it's existence. Pretty cool stuff.