ARTURO GATTI WORTHY OF HALL OF FAME!
Pedro Fernandez
San Francisco, CA- Although emotion is in the air seeing his funeral was yesterday, there has been a lot of talk about Arturo Gatti’s place in history. In other words, are Gatti’s accomplishments worthy of the hall of fame? Without any doubt! Although he held two alphabetical titles, Gatti’s career was a stellar one.
GATTI ACCOMPLISHED MORE THAN TITLES
In addition to being in four Ring magazine fights of the year, 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2003, Arturo had many bright ring moments since he turned professional in 1991. Beating Pete Taliaferro (25-2) in 1994 brought Gatti much notice. The 12 round win over then IBF 130 lb. champ Tracy Harris Patterson (54-3-1) in 1995 wasn’t scintillating, but it gave Gatti a belt late promoter Dan Duva could move around the boxing chessboard.
WILSON RODRIGUEZ WAS BEATING GATTI UNTIL…
In his initial defense, Gatti scored a come from behind one-punch KO of Wilson Rodriguez (44-7) in round six. After getting dropped and sporting a closing right optic, this was the first time boxing fans in masse witnessed a bloodied Gatti roar back in a manner that would become commonplace more often than not. The Gabriel Ruelas (44-3) fight in 1997 was an epic (fight of year) event, and even in losing to Angel Manfredy (22-2) and twice to Ivan Robinson (26-2, #2 fight of the year), Gatti was still one of the most popular fighters in the world.
Read full story at Ringtalk.com.
Mr. Fernandez is an award-winning writer, TV commentator, radio talk show host, former San Francisco Policeman and four-time Golden Gloves champion.
