BoxRec

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.

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.

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.

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.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote: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.

dempseyfire wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote: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.

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

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.

ThatOne wrote: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.