All photos by Al Bello/Getty Images
On February 26, 2000, Arturo Gatti met Joey Gamache in New York’s fabled Madison Square Garden.
Now 27, Gatti was in a rebuilding mode. After a rough 1998 in which he lost three times, once to Angel Manfredy and twice to Ivan Robinson, “Thunder” had taken some much needed time off.
He had fought just once in 1999, in August, and won by a first-round TKO over Reyes Munoz.
The big question was, could he pull it off and return to the Gatti of old?
The bout aired live on HBO and, in the prefight discussion, much was made of the fighter’s weights. Gatti weighed in at 141, Gamache 140. As each man stepped into the ring, Gatti had hydrated up to 160, Gamache 146.
In just 27 hours after the weigh in, Gatti packed on 19 pounds. Another concern was Gatti’s defense. In those three losses in 1998, his opponents landed well over 50 percent of their punches and nearly 60 percent of their power punches.
Gamache, 33, entered the ring first. Wearing black trimmed in silver, Gamache (55-3, 38 KOs) was a solid, dangerous veteran fighter who had won 10 straight fights.
After being greeted in the ring by referee Benjy Esteves, his opponent then began to make his way to the ring. He was just 1-3 in his last four fights and facing a man many saw as a dangerous threat to end Gatti’s comeback.
Wearing white with blue trim, Gatti (30-4, 25 KOs) entered the ring to a packed house in Madison Square Garden.
Ring announcer Michael Buffer introduced the fighters and the bout quickly got underway. Jim Lampley, George Foreman and Larry Merchant sat ringside to call the blow-by-blow action.
Scheduled for 10 rounds in the Junior Welterweight division, Gatti was immediately the aggressor. As was his usual, he came straight forward and attacked Gamache behind his left jab.
Gamache circled and looked to counter. Less than one minute into the action, Gatti was launching left hooks and right hands at Gamache.
The crowd inside MSG was curiously quiet, perhaps patiently waiting for the fight to break out. They didn’t have to wait long. Just over a minute into the first round, Gatti launched a straight right hand that put Gamache on the canvas near the ropes.
Lampley stopped mid-sentence to call the blistering right hand by Gatti. “And there’s a knockdown by Gatti as he puts Gamache across the bottom rope with still a minute to go in the first!”
Gamache rose quickly and was up by the count of four. Merchant recognized he was in trouble, “Gamache is wobbly.”
Gatti charged across the ring at full speed and opened up with right and left hooks to the head and to the body. The crowd was now alive and on its feet. As Gatti wailed away, Gamache fired a series of left hooks, landing two flush in the Gatti chin.
Gatti continued to attack, unfazed, as Lampley wailed. “And Gamache lands a blistering left hook! The left hook by Gamache momentarily stopped Gatti in his tracks!”
With just over 30 seconds remaining in the opening round, Gatti immediately responded with his own left hook, first a hook to the body and then a thunderous sweeping shot that again put Gamache down.
Lampley desperately tried to keep up with the furious pace, “Ohhh! There’s a big left hook by Gatti! And the body punch set it up!”
With the three knockdown rule in effect, Gatti again launched a furious assault.
Gamache stood in front of Gatti and the two stood toe to toe in the final 25 seconds of Round 1. Seeing that Gamache was still hurt, Foreman hollered, “Hold on! You got to hold on!”
A roaring crowd was now cheering wildly as the bell sounded. As a harbinger of things to come, Gamache walked to the wrong corner.
Round 2 began with Gatti pursuing Gamache behind his left jab. Just 30 seconds into the round, Gatti again wobbled Gamache with a left hook. As Gamache staggered backward, Gatti went in for the kill.
Gatti stepped in and fired a three-punch combination, a right uppercut, left hook and right hook. Each punch landed cleanly as Gamache fell backward, stiff as a board, and crashed to the canvas.
Lampley called the final seconds, “And Benjy Esteves isn’t gonna bother with the count here as Gamache’s eyes were closed before he hit the canvas.”
While Gatti and his camp were ecstatic, Gamache, still on the canvas, struggled to get to his feet. The bout ended, brutally, at just 0:41 of Round 2.
Celebration soon turned to concern as the crowd “eewed” and “aahed” as replays were shown both by HBO and inside The Garden. Gatti, happy he had scored the win, was somber as Gamache struggled to pull himself together.
Gatti was back. He would go on to fight well into 2007. His epic wars with Micky Ward are among the greatest trilogies in boxing history.
For Gamache, February 26 was his last walk into the ring. He retired after the loss to Gatti.
