I just watched a spectacular welterweight fight between Arturo Gatti and Thomas Damgaard, and it has cemented my opinion that Arturo Gatti is the toughest fighter out there right now. I don’t know if any of you saw any of the three legendary Ward/Gatti fights, which are the greatest fights I have ever watched (you guys can take your heavyweight matchups), but Arturo Gatti is simply amazing.
Oh yeah. Gatti fought the last 5 rounds with a broken right hand. Again. The punch that knocked out Damgaard? A right.
rilkefan
You just like him cause he’s named Cats.
Pooh
Oh, man those Ward-Gotti fights were unreal. How he still has anything left after those…
RonB
Holy shit, that was some fight, John. The guy is a consummate fighter-he can take a hit better than anyone I’ve seen since Ali, he intuitively seeks out opponent’s weak spots without trying the same shit over and over again…I wonder if there’s a way for me to see the fights that you guys are talking about.
J. Michael Neal
Gatti/Damgaard was good, and Gatti is tough, but it wasn’t nearly as good a fight as Pacquiao/Morales last week. Those two are much better, and I think that Morales showed more toughness by staying on his feet through nine and a half rounds of Pacquiao’s bombs than Gatti did. Gatti certainly has a high pain threshold, but Damgaard never threatened him at all.
Gatti certainly doesn’t have the best chin since Ali. The guy’s been on the canvas frequently throughout his career. Even in the welterweight divisions, there are guys that take a better punch right now than Gatti does: Ricky Hatton (Kostya Tszyu would have decapitated Gatti), Jose Luis Castillo. Step down, and you have Diego Corrales. There are plenty of others.
I love watching Gatti fight, but people very frequently go from that, to saying that he’s the best at something, which he very clearly isn’t. Floyd Mayweather isn’t a huge puncher, and look at the way he completely demolished Thunder.
jaime
They were showing the Manny Pacquiao fight before the Gatti one. THAT guy is amazing. He has a rematch with Juan Marquez that I am looking forward to.
Keith
Gotta concur with the bit about PacMan/Morales. Gatti’s a great fighter to watch when he’s fighting a journeyman-level fighter (and oddly, when he fights an outsized contender-level fighter, he usually blows them out), as he takes a lot to give a lot. But when he stepped up to Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, he was just destroyed.
But as good as Gatti’s fights are, when a fight happens like that on a truly elite level, like Pacquaio-Morales and Jose Luis Castillo-Diego Corrales, you’re really watching something special, where both guys have good defense, good chins, good technique, and good power.
Pooh
Wow, I;m watching the replay of PacMan/Morales right now. Wow.
Otto Man
Just saw the replay. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.
RonB
I was thinking more in terms of prolonged punishment taken, not so much ability to absorb a power shot.
J. Michael Neal
Go watch Corrales/Castillo I again, and get back to me on the ability to absorb prolonged punishment.