I don't see what was so special about Mayweather vs Gatti?

Exactly and there were many people on ESB and writers who thought Gatti was too much for PBF and would beat him up. But people here think that guys like us forget what was actually going on around here back then.

 

Quit hating chav. And what do you know? You weren't even watching boxing back then.:rofl

 

It was obvious what was gonna happen. There were some doubts and Gatti had the obvious edge of being able to end a fight through landing the right punches by chance, but I saw Mayweather as too durable and focused to ever let that happen. HUGE edge in speed, skill. I also never buy the "reinvented" fighter schtick. Changing trainers and abruptly revamping your style never creates a brand new fighter, especially not that late. It worked with guys like Pac and Khan with Roach because they were still young and relatively inexperienced.... But more often than not you'll just see fighters fall back on old habits after a couple rounds and hard punches.

 

have you forgotten i used to own your ass back in those days.

 

I used to own your ass back then you and beware..child please.:rofl I have more boxing knowledge in my pinky than you and your gay father combined.:deal

 

Ok gotcha. :smoke

That's a much more fair statement.

 

I agree, it was a mismatch, but I think people expected it to be closer.

Probably the reasons its often pointed out is because:

1. It was Mayweathers first PPV fight.

2. After ODLH loss, Gatti came back like a lion. TKO in the fight directly after ODLH, followed by winning Comeback Fighter of the Year 2002, finished his trilogy with Ward in 2003, racked up 3 solid wins (2 by KO, one was a body KO) to win and twice defend the WBC Light WW strap before facing Mayweather.

3. Like you said, Mayweather was able to showcase tremendous offense against Gatti, who was a balls out warrior, where Floys wasn't.

Personally, I was a big fan of both at the time, and I was fairly sure Floyd would put on a boxing clinic...but I still wouldn't have been surprised if Gatti walked through those punches and brought the pain.

 

Here's the difference between DLH-Gatti, and Mayweather-Gatti....

Gatti was fighting at 147 when he fought DLH, and while never defensively sound, wasn't displaying as many skills as he did once he moved down to 140. Even then he still had more success connecting against Oscar than he did when fighting PBF.

But people tend to forget that Gatti was on a nice little run once he moved down to 140 (which was a much more comfortable weight class for him to make at the time). He had taken two out of three from Ward (and arguably done enough to defeat him the first time), and had scored impressive victories over the likes of Dorin and Leija going into the fight.

So, there was a school of thought that Gatti had shown enough improvement since coming to 140lbs that he might find a means to deliver his power (which was much more of a factor at this weight than it ever was at welterweight).

But it didn't happen..at all. Gatti barely laid a glove on a fighter who wasn't just content to pot-shot, but who stayed in the pocket and was stringing together five and six punch combinations by the time all was said and done.

So, for all intents and purposes, Mayweather beat a better version of Gatti than night, and looked more impressive doing it. And that's why this remains one of his more impressive performances.

 

Without sounding like a **** but the way he beat the **** outta gatti was great. The way Floyd put combinations together was beautiful.

 

Floyd's win over Gatti was impressive, but meaningless other than a showcase fight, Gatti was basically a fringe champion level guy at best at 140 and 147. It also helped that Buddy gave Gatti the great gameplan to come in and box with Floyd instead of trying to bomb Floyd out of there. And following that fight, Gatti got ravaged by Baldomir and destroyed by Gomez. However, it was Floyd's biggest name value win in terms of the popularity of the boxer involved, so it was big for his career that he got the impressive win.

 

FAIL! atsch

His best weight was 130-135. It was when he moved up to 140-147 that he had trouble, because he just wasn't as powerful there.

Coming into the Mayweather fight Gatti was on a 3 fight winning streak.

He won by TKO in the fight directly after ODLH, followed by winning Comeback Fighter of the Year 2002, finished his trilogy with Ward in 2003, racked up 3 solid wins (2 by KO, one was a body KO) to win and twice defend the WBC Light WW strap before facing Mayweather.

Two division world champion: WBC Light Welterweight (2 defenses), IBF Super Featherweight (5 defenses)

National Champion: USBA Super Featherweight (2 defenses)

4 time Ring Magazine Fight of the Year: 1997 (W KO5 Gabriel Ruelas), 1998 (L 10 Ivan Robinson), 2002 (L 10 Micky Ward), 2003 (W 10 Micky Ward)

Ring Magazine Knockout of the Year: 1997 (W KO5 Gabriel Ruelas)

Ring magazine Comeback of the Year fighter for 2002.


The guy was obviously a "fringe champion". :roll:

Wrong again. atsch

Floyd was the WBC Super Featherweight Champ with 9 defenses and the WBC Lightweight champ with 3 defenses before moving up in weight.

A short list of the fighters he defended successfully against:

Henry Bruseles 21-2-1
DeMarcus Corley 28-2-1 - IBF LWW title eliminator
Phillip N'dou 31-1-0
Victoriano Sosa 35-2-2
Jose Luis Castillo 46-5-1
Jose Luis Castillo 45-4-1
Jesus Chavez 35-1-0
Carlos Hernandez 33-2-1
Diego Corrales 33-0-0
Emanuel Augustus 22-16-4
Gregorio Vargas 40-6-1
Carlos Gerena 34-2-0
****** Juuko 33-2-1
Carlos Alberto Ramon Rios 44-2-1
Angel Manfredy 25-2-1
Genaro Hernandez 38-1-1

If by that you mean it was his first world class opponent? Smash your keyboard and throw away your boxing fan card now.

If you mean that it was Floyd's first PPV fight, OK, you can stay...just don't spout off without having your facts straight.

 

The fight isn't that interesting in retrospect, but in context at the time it was very compelling. Gatti was enjoying a renaissance and a lot of attention was starting to fall on Mayweather as the next great American fighter. Keep in mind that the shocking Roy Jones losses were still very fresh.

 

he dominated a quality opponent so easily that's what