I find Ward more entertaining on the whole. He was in more barn burners which I revisit than Gatti was, in fights vs: Phillips, Green, Sanchez, Neary, Diaz, Augustus and of course, the Gatti trilogy itself. I personally find that collection of fights more entertaining than Gatti's fights with Ruelas, Rodriguez, Robinson, Manfredy and Patterson. I also find that centurion style pressure, with the nasty left hook down to the body a more appealing style than Gatti's "start boxer, immediately revert to slugger". Ward was also quite a fluid combination puncher in his pomp, too. Both great fighters to watch.
Gatti was in more fights of the year two of which was with Ward. Both are legendary ring warriors with heart and stamina. Saying either or is correct. No wrong answer, I did vote for Gatti based on having one more fight of the year. Both gave their all always.
Gatti was fantastic to watch at lightweight. At the higher weights he was nothing more than a punching bag who only looked good against carefully chosen opposition. Ward Gatti was an entertaining series, but I've always maintained you can watch two drunk bums fight the exact same way. That's not what I watch boxing to see. If you do then good for you.
Gatti at lightweight had the snot beaten out of him by Manfredy. He couldn't beat someone an ancient Chavez could in two tries. Gatti was no better at 140 than he was at 135.
Overall I think I would lean towards Gatti. Their trilogy actually gets overrated while their other fights don't get kind enough shine. The first Gatti-Robinson fight was just as great as Gatti-Ward 1 all the way through. No rounds quite like round 9 of Gatti-Ward, but it was more consistent action all the way through. The next two fights were pretty one-sided. If you were to make a top 10 list of fights between both of them, I think it would go list this: 1) Gatti-Robinson 1/Gatti-Ward 1 3) Ward-Augustus 4) Gatti-Rodriguez 5) Ward-Neary 6) Gatti-Ruelas 7) Ward-Diaz 8) Gatti-Manfredy 9) Ward-Green 10) Gatti-Robinson 2
Gatti, but just by a little. But between the two, I liked Ward more. His body punching was among the best!
