IT WAS GATTI TO THE BODY - AND WARD HAD NO ANSWER
By Ron Brashear
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist
INSIDE BOXING (11/23/2002) - While the rematch of Arturo Gatti vs. Mickey Ward didn't quite live up to their 1st bout in May of 2002, it was a very entertaining fight. As more often than not in rematches, one fighter will study where they went wrong and make the necessary adjustments.
That's exactly what Team Gatti did and it paid off "big time". Under the tutelage of trainer Buddy McGirt, we saw a much improved and different fighter in Gatti. In lieu of standing toe-to-toe with Ward and having defense thrown out the window, this Arturo Gatti showcased solid boxing skills with defense, and ring generalship as well. The result yielded a very one-sided unanimous decision win for Gatti. Two judges saw it at 98-91 and the 3rd judge saw it at 98-90. I saw this fight as 99-90 for Gatti.
The big story of the night was the vicious body attack that Gatti put on Ward. From round one onward, Gatti continuously kept a focus on Ward's body and pounded good combinations consisting of left and right hooks. In the 3rd round with Ward feeling the pressure of the body attack, Gatti was able to land an overhand right to the head that sent Ward to the canvas. Ward was able to get back to his feet to finish the round exchanging blows with Gatti.
By mid-way through this fight, it was obvisious that Ward did not have any answers for this style of Gatti. Excluding round nine, I had Gatti pitching a shutout and winning every round with a solid body attack followed up by combinations to the head.
Gatti improved his record to 35-6, 28KOs and talked of hopes of getting a shot at Koysta Tszyu. If not Koysta Tszyu, Gatti indicated that Ward is a tough fighter and since they have one win apiece, he wouldn't be opposed to having a 3rd fight with Ward either.
As for Ward, he dropped to 38 - 12, 27KOs and hopes to get another chance against Gatti in a 3rd fight. Based on what I saw tonight, it will take a drastic change on the part of Ward to mustard up any success to this boxing style of Gatti. Even the foot speed of Gatti had Ward appearing very slow and constantly unable to catch up to the elusiveness of Gatti.
I must also state that Mickey Ward is definitely a tough opponent that can stand in there and take the shots. The down side to this attribute is that he can get seriously injured if he continues the sport of boxing and gets pounded with the type of volume that Gatti was hitting him with tonight.
So overall, it was a very entertaining fight and its good to see these two warriors get their just dues for the labor they have both put forth in a quest to delight the fight fans!
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Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@brasheargear.com