Once again Arturo Gatti put on display why we all love to watch him fight.  Saturday in his 3rd fight in the Welterweight division Gatti was in against a tough fighter, Thomas Damgaard, who although tough lacked skills; which makes me wonder how he became the 5th ranked welterweight in the Ring Magazine.

            Arturo Gatti was having his way with Damgaard, who just seemed to walk forward and literally touch Gatti with his jab, in fact not to sugar coat it, Damgaard looked like he couldn’t punch his way out of a wet paper bag. Gatti landed numerous power punches from conventional and south paw stances before re-injuring his right hand around the 4th or 5th round. Gatti, who has injured his right hand in his last 6 fights did it again, but this time around he kept throwing with it and landing, to the body and up stairs, until he landed a thunderous right hand which sent Damgaard reeling before ref Lindsay Paige jumped in a stopped it. I can’t help but feel a little upset with the current raking system though. How Thomas Damgaard was ranked that high by the Ring Magazine? I know he had an impressive record coming into that fight 37-0 with 30 or so KOs but after 1 round it was clear he wasn’t a top ten level fighter. If you can’t cut Gatti with a punch then you might want to do something else other than boxing for a living.

            Give Arturo Gatti all the credit he deserves because to fight through the injury to his right hand takes guts, but his opponent was a joke.  I do think Gatti can beat Carlos Baldomir because Baldomir isn’t a big puncher; Gatti would also have a good chance versus Zab Judah if he could hit him, Zab’s chin is a huge flaw but he does have some serious hand speed and that would be clear if he was in with Gatti. However, Gatti wouldn’t go away and would be a dangerous foe from Ding to Dong for Judah. If I was in Gatti’s camp I’d keep him as far away from Shane Mosley and Antonio Margarito as possible but for different reasons. Shane has way too much speed and power for Gatti, picture Floyd maybe not as fast but much stronger and that’s the fight that you’d get with Mosley. Margarito is the most ducked fighter in the world right now. Nobody is in a hurry to fight him. He’s big, strong, and has some serious skills and after destroying Kermit Cintron and also doing some serious damage to Daniel Santos before he got jobbed, no one is in a hurry to fight him. Knowing Gatti and his heart he’d be the guy to give Antonio Margarito a shot.

            Still, at the end of the day Gatti will get a shot at the WBC title holder Carlos Baldomir before probably Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Antonio Margarito will, so good luck to him. All in all at the end of the day Arturo Gatti is great for the sport because he is a throwback to early times in the fight game, much like Jeff Lacy and James Toney, and in a sense this is how the fans feel a connection with him. Love him or not, Gatti may have his flaws  but he truly puts forth his heart each and every time he comes out to fight.

            On a lesser note I got to watch the Morales vs. Pacquiao II fight and it looked like their first fight. Pacquiao still has trouble with guys who can box. Had Erik actually ran during training or signed to fight at 135 pounds, he may have had an easier night. It was clear that he had won 4 of the first 5 rounds going away but he was also looking tired. Maybe it was from the wars in the ring, maybe it was from the wars with the scale. I do hope that he rests  and if he decides to come back he’s going to be rededicated to the sport; if not I wish him all the best away from boxing.  

            Manny Pacquiao proved he could beat Erik Morales, now he should go back to his best division which is 126 pounds  where he can stop people with a single punch; at 130 pounds there are some big fighters with more punching power and better boxing skills and god please don’t listen to Larry Merchant and believe that he would be effective at 135 pounds.  Jose Luis Castillo, Diego Corrales, the rugged Joel Casamayor, the slick Zahir Raheem all would jump at the chance to fight Manny.