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Junior Welterweight-140 lbs 36-6, 28 KO’S He has been coined as the ‘human highlight film’ of boxing. He is arguably the most exciting fighter in boxing history. And although his nickname is ‘Thunder’ Arturo Gatti has risen from the ashes on so many occasions that it would be more appropriate to designate him ‘The Phoenix’. Gatti was born and raised in Montreal, Canada, but has lived in Jersey City, NJ since 1991. He speaks four languages-English, French, Spanish and Italian. He began boxing at age eight. He turned pro on June 10, 1991, scoring a third round TKO over Jose Gonzalez. After suffering a minor setback to King Solomon in November 1992 [L6], Gatti won his next 23 matches-19 by KO-with ten of them coming in the first round and only six going past the third. On June 28 1994, he won his first professional title, the USBA jr. lightweight crown, by destroying defending champion Pete Taliaferro in one round at The Meadowlands Convention Center in Secaucos, NJ [KO 1]. Seven fights later he challenged for his first World title. On December 15 1995, in front of 16,000 fans in Madison Square Garden, New York, Gatti floored IBF jr. lightweight champion Tracy Patterson once in the second-round with a powerful right uppercut on his way to capturing a unanimous decision and the IBF title [W 12]. Gatti returned on March 23, 1996, to defend his title for the first time against Wilson Rodriguez. Rodriguez controlled the fight until the fifth round where Gatti completed one of the greatest comebacks in boxing history. Gatti knocked out Rodriguez, retained his championship and captured the prestigious ‘fight of the year’ award. Contact:golden_girl662@hotmail.com |
