The Gatti-Ward Trilogy

[ThatOne]

Great HBO special... Both fighters had great life stories , sadly Gatti's life ended tragically...

IMHO, Gatti made those fights on himself more difficult than they had to be.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

The first fight was epic, the second and third are highly overrated as is the trilogy as a whole. Marquez/Vazquez shits all over it.

[gilgamesh]

I think all 3 fights were at the very least good, and the 1st one was indeed epic. I agree though that Marquez and Vazquez's rivalry was superior...right up there with the best in the sport's history.

Morales vs Barrera's trilogy is superior to me as well.

[gilgamesh]

All that being said, I have the utmost respect for Gatti and Ward, Gatti is one of my favorite fighters of all time and I've watched his most entertaining fights a sh*tload of times. Always a pleasure.

For Ward being one of the most celebrated journeyman fighters in the sport closing out his career with 3 Ring Magazine Fight of the Year awards in a row (winning 2 of the 3) is an unbelievable way to go out and definitely far more than most journeyman would ever have the chance to accomplish.

I personally thought in 2003 that Spadafora vs Dorin and Toney vs Jirov were better fights than Gatti-Ward III, but I have no problem with people picking that 3rd Gatti-Ward fight as the fight of the year. It was a good fight. More of a very aggressive boxing than just an outright brawl, but it was fun stuff to watch.

I'll always have fond memories of both of these guys. It's a shame that it ended the way it did for Gatti, because I really hoped to meet him and shake his hand someday. It's a damn shame.

[dempseyfire]

The first fight was epic, the second and third are highly overrated as is the trilogy as a whole. Marquez/Vazquez shits all over it.

Really the trilogy is over-rated, although I'm not sure the 2nd and 3rd fights are since no-one really ever mentions them. It's the first fight that made it. Although the 3rd was a great fight . . not in the sphere of the 1st, but a great fight regardless. 2nd fight was not even worthy to keep a recording of . .way too one-sided.

[gilgamesh]

The first fight was epic, the second and third are highly overrated as is the trilogy as a whole. Marquez/Vazquez shits all over it.

Really the trilogy is over-rated, although I'm not sure the 2nd and 3rd fights are since no-one really ever mentions them. It's the first fight that made it. Although the 3rd was a great fight . . not in the sphere of the 1st, but a great fight regardless. 2nd fight was not even worthy to keep a recording of . .way too one-sided.

The 3rd round of the 2nd fight was almost like the 9th round of the 1st fight in reverse. So I thought the 2nd fight special if only for that. I agree it was very one sided though.

[ThatOne]

Ward wanted to turn the fight into a brawl. I don't see why Gatti acquiesced. Gatti was best when he was moving...

[Ambling Alp II]

He just could not help himself; he started out a lot of fights boxing and would eventually be going to to toe.
I loved all 3 of their fights. They all had a ton of action. Neither were great fighters; Ward had average talent and Gatti had more but certainly not an overabundance. They gave all they had and you can't ask for much more than that.

[gilgamesh]

Ward wanted to turn the fight into a brawl. I don't see why Gatti acquiesced. Gatti was best when he was moving...

That's what made Gatti the fighter he was. He loved a good brawl. In the 2nd and 3rd fights though he knew it wasn't the best strategy and he fought the smarter fight. That he should've the 1st time.