Arturo Gatti drops his gloves.: Appealing to the referee, Arturo Gatti makes an amateur mistake, gifts Floyd Mayweather a free shot and pays for it. "I guess you have to protect yourself at all times. I learned that lesson the hard way."
posted by the red terror to other at 02:53 PM - 9 comments
chico, what did Mayweather say that riled you so? I heard on the radio Mayweather was "classy" after the fight and there is this from the article:
Mayweather was gracious in victory after a trash-talking buildup. "Gatti was tough, strong and came to fight. I respect Arturo for giving me the chance to win the title," he said. "He's a great champion and I'm a great champion. Everything I said about him before the fight was just to hype the fight."Seems OK to me, is there a Mayweather interview out there with the nasty stuff?
posted by pivo at 06:58 PM on June 27, 2005
I've just seen him three or four times on HBO/Showtime/ESPN, and he's never been anywhere close to that gracious. Frankly, he comes off as a Randy Moss wannabe, which might be fine in the Heavyweight division where everyone's a strutting me-me-me peacock, but at 140, where you have students of the game and scholarly types like Gatti and Cotto and Kostya Tzu and Hatton, it really sticks out. I'm willing to be convinced that it's an act, but -- I'll have to be convinced that it's an act, that's all. Good on him for winning. Gatti's no slouch. He's earned his shot.
posted by chicobangs at 07:16 PM on June 27, 2005
The guy is trained to give and take punches and you expect hime to be some kind of high class person? Give it a rest, who cares if he talks smack before a fight, boxing is part mental also. It's too bad that the fight ended in that way and if he is a true champion he will let Arturo fight him again as soon as possible. Hopefully it will be the next fight.
posted by YelirNoj at 09:10 PM on June 27, 2005
YelirNoj I can tell by your comments that you didn't see the fight. Mayweather totally dominated Gatti, there are no questions left to be answered and there is no need for a rematch (not even Gatti would want to see that). Gatti never even hit Floyd so what would a rematch prove. Gatti is famous for taking beatings and he did exactly that Saturday night.
posted by darren at 09:57 PM on June 27, 2005
Im a Gatti fan, but there should definitely be no rematch. Mayweather showcased his boxing superiority over Gatti on Saturday night. I hope Gatti makes an effort to get back into the ring sometime in the future. As for pretty boy, hes a great, gifted fighter. But, I would like for him to get his trash talkin butt knocked out because Im tired of his Mouth, and he has it coming.
posted by Rage Rod 74 at 10:46 PM on June 27, 2005
Well, count me in amongst those who wish to see Maywether get knuckled (almost as much as I wanted Prince Nasim to get flattened), but this fight was terribly one sided. Gatti was exposed (and I'm a big, big Gatti fan). No rematch. It seemed early like Gatti was going to try and 'out-box' Mayweather. That lasted about 38 seconds, then the new strategy, 'survive', lasted another five and half rounds. It was way too decisive, I thought Gatti had more skill as a fighter than he was given credit for, but Mayweather (and likely Hatton and Tzu) are just at another level.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 09:17 AM on June 28, 2005
Mayweather so utterly outclassed Gatti, that the crowd -- who were overwhelmingly Gatti fans -- just shut up and winced. It was the most dominant one-sided title contest I have seen in years. I was cheering for Gatti, but it quickly became obvious he didn't even deserve to be in the same ring. I don't recall even one good shot that Gatti landed, whereas Gatti was getting pummeled by an average of 10-20 clean power punches per round. No wonder Gatti's corner threw the towel in on a fight that their guy held the championship belt. Mayweather's talk may be cheap -- as was his Prince Nasim-like ring entrance (puke!) -- but he backs it up in the ring. Total domination. And a clinical lesson.
posted by the red terror at 10:09 AM on June 28, 2005
Watched the replay on HBO and OMG did Gotti get his arse kicked. I think Gotti should be forced into retirement. He like most "great white hype's" are just there to sell tickets. He showed his inferiority during this match.
posted by Big Dookie at 09:38 PM on June 30, 2005
I heard about this yesterday. That really sucks. Gatti's a good guy. I hope he comes back. And may Mayweather get a faceful of Ricky Hatton and shut his sorry carcass up. Everyone else at the top of that division is a class act. Mayweather is merely a mouthy mess.
posted by chicobangs at 04:10 PM on June 27, 2005