Gamache sues Gatti

Old bones Ian · Post by **Old bones Ian** » 03 Mar 2006, 05:57

NEW YORK - A former boxer who says he sustained permanent brain damage in a 2000 bout against Arturo Gatti is now suing, saying Gatti weighed too much for the fight.

Joey Gamache, 39, and his wife filed a lawsuit in federal court Feb. 21 alleging breach of contract over the Feb. 26, 2000 bout at Madison Square Garden. Gatti won the fight.

By contract, both fighters had to weigh 141 pounds by at least eight hours before the bout started, according to the suit filed by lawyer Keith Sullivan. Gatti made weight the day before the fight, but the suit said his weight was “falsely represented” then and that he was actually 160 pounds by the time he got into the ring the next day.

Gatti overwhelmed Gamache in the first round and the fight was stopped 20 seconds into Round Two, but Gamache was hospitalized for two days afterward, the suit said.

“As a result of the devastating punishment inflicted by the severely overweight defendant ... (Gamache) has sustained severe and permanent neurological damages and injuries, which caused him to end his career as a professional boxer,” according to the suit.

Gamache, who suffers from migraine headaches he attributes to the beating, now works as a boxing trainer at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn.

“Every day is a battle,” Sullivan said Thursday. “He has great difficulty getting past these migraine headaches and he takes a cocktail of medications to get through it.”

Gamache has a separate complaint pending before the state Court of Claims against the New York State Athletic Commission over the administration of the weigh-in, Sullivan said.

Donald Tremblay, spokesman for Bloomfield, N.J.-based Main Events, Gatti’s promoter, said the company had not been served with the complaint and wouldn’t comment on its claims.

A breach-of-contract suit filed by Gamache over the fight was voluntarily withdrawn by him in August 2004, with the endorsement of U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, according to Tremblay.

Tremblay said he didn’t know what Gatti’s weight was by the time the fight began.

“I don’t know how much weight he gained afterward. That was when Arturo was really working hard to make weight. How much he actually gained, I don’t know. He worked hard to get down and make the weight. After that, when you replenish with liquids you’re going to gain some weight back. Some guys gain more than others.”

Phenomenal-Nutrition · Post by **Phenomenal-Nutrition** » 03 Mar 2006, 06:50

I think there should be a max of 8lbs gained. But what if he was in with a Tyszu/Hamed they coudl do the damage without the extra weight.

Didn't the IBF make sure Hatton was at max 147 before an eliminator? Why not do this in all fights

Old bones Ian · Post by **Old bones Ian** » 03 Mar 2006, 07:09

Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:I think there should be a max of 8lbs gained. But what if he was in with a Tyszu/Hamed they coudl do the damage without the extra weight.

Didn't the IBF make sure Hatton was at max 147 before an eliminator? Why not do this in all fights

I've heard that this can be written into a contract, that a boxer must be under a certain limit on the day of the fight, but its not in the rules of any of the governing bodies, as far as i know.

Phenomenal-Nutrition · Post by **Phenomenal-Nutrition** » 03 Mar 2006, 07:16

topper123 wrote:
Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:I think there should be a max of 8lbs gained. But what if he was in with a Tyszu/Hamed they coudl do the damage without the extra weight.

Didn't the IBF make sure Hatton was at max 147 before an eliminator? Why not do this in all fights
I've heard that this can be written into a contract, that a boxer must be under a certain limit on the day of the fight, but its not in the rules of any of the governing bodies, as far as i know.

The rules need changing Cotto outweighing Corley by 18lbs on fight night is ridicolous

Lenny · Post by **Lenny** » 03 Mar 2006, 07:19

A thought it was a IBF rule?

Have heard it being put forward as a reason for Harrison not fighting Marquez before (the other reason being he'd get schooled)

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 03 Mar 2006, 07:24

Bring back same day weigh ins, and also check fighters weights in the run up to fights so they aren't cutting massive amounts prior to the weigh in. It would be very unpopular with fighters/promoters, and you would find loads of fighters changing weight divisions, but in the long run it would prevent fighters entering the ring with ridiculous weight advantages.

Freiheit · Post by **Freiheit** » 03 Mar 2006, 07:36

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Bring back same day weigh ins, and also check fighters weights in the run up to fights so they aren't cutting massive amounts prior to the weigh in. It would be very unpopular with fighters/promoters, and you would find loads of fighters changing weight divisions, but in the long run it would prevent fighters entering the ring with ridiculous weight advantages.

I agree with the same day weigh in. Just imagine all the belts that would be made vacant. Some places there are the control weigh ins, ie Cotto and Branco weighed 145 & 145,5 earlier this week at the pre weigh in. I know EBU have used a 3 weigh in structure before, but I dont know if they wtill use it.

mattyp151 · Post by **mattyp151** » 03 Mar 2006, 08:07

For Corrales/Castillo II, Diego weighed in at 135, Castillo at 138 1/2 as you all know. However, on fight night, Castillo was 147 1/2 or 148 1/2, I don't remember exactly, and Corrales was 151. Castillo's manager tried to say that gave him an advantage being heavier on fight night, ignoring the fact that Corrales made weight and had to lose the extra 3.5 pounds Castillo didn't.

dookus · Post by **dookus** » 03 Mar 2006, 08:22

The particular point with this fight, i think, was that gatti was probably well over 140lbs by the time they got to the scales, let alone the ring - a lot of question marks remain over the handling of the weigh-in.

KO Artist · Post by **KO Artist** » 03 Mar 2006, 08:28

Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:I think there should be a max of 8lbs gained. But what if he was in with a Tyszu/Hamed they coudl do the damage without the extra weight.

Didn't the IBF make sure Hatton was at max 147 before an eliminator? Why not do this in all fights

They should make the weigh in on the morning or afternoon of the fight. Then guys would fight in their ntural division. Castllo waould be Welterweight and so would Hatton.

Guys like Gatti would be Welter/Light Middle

When Marvin Hagler got in the ring he was 11st 11lbs (165) after weighing in the morning at 160lbs.

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 03 Mar 2006, 08:43

jamesmcdonnell wrote:Bring back same day weigh ins, and also check fighters weights in the run up to fights so they aren't cutting massive amounts prior to the weigh in. It would be very unpopular with fighters/promoters, and you would find loads of fighters changing weight divisions, but in the long run it would prevent fighters entering the ring with ridiculous weight advantages.

Totally agree with this and I’ve been of this viewpoint for a long while now. These massive weight advantages are just unfair and almost tantamount to cheating.

Seem to be hearing of it more lately too, with Gatti (how did he ever make Super-Featherweight?) and Hatton being two of the well known ‘culprits’.

They have to move weigh-ins back to the same day and watch the fighters weights to ensure there isn’t a repetition of the Michael Watson incident.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 03 Mar 2006, 08:54

KO Atrist wrote:
Phenomenal-Nutrition wrote:I think there should be a max of 8lbs gained. But what if he was in with a Tyszu/Hamed they coudl do the damage without the extra weight.

Didn't the IBF make sure Hatton was at max 147 before an eliminator? Why not do this in all fights
They should make the weigh in on the morning or afternoon of the fight. Then guys would fight in their ntural division. Castllo waould be Welterweight and so would Hatton.

Guys like Gatti would be Welter/Light Middle

When Marvin Hagler got in the ring he was 11st 11lbs (165) after weighing in the morning at 160lbs.

Hatton would probably be at light middleweight.

I shudder to think what Steve Collins must have weighed come fight night, Eubank was a beast of a man, and Collins looked massive compared to him when they fought. Collins must have been well over the 175 limit come fight night.

It's all got a bit silly, with top notch fighters having the best nutritional advice, they are able to outweigh their opponents and get unfair advantage. The opponents, who often do the travelling and don't have the same sort of attention to their diet and training methods, are more likely to be guys who are nearer their natural weight class have a massive disadvantage.

Imagine how much some of Hatton's natural lightweight opponents must have been outweighed by. Rios must have been outweighed by 10-15 lbs on fight night for instance.

Manos de Oro · Post by **Manos de Oro** » 03 Mar 2006, 09:02

dookus wrote:The particular point with this fight, i think, was that gatti was probably well over 140lbs by the time they got to the scales, let alone the ring - a lot of question marks remain over the handling of the weigh-in.

Very murky this one. It's always left a particularly bad taste when I've thought about these situations.

Nels · Post by **Nels** » 03 Mar 2006, 11:38

JAMESMCDONNELL WROTE:
"Hatton would probably be at light middleweight...

It's all got a bit silly, with top notch fighters having the best nutritional advice, they are able to outweigh their opponents and get unfair advantage. The opponents, who often do the travelling and don't have the same sort of attention to their diet and training methods, are more likely to be guys who are nearer their natural weight class have a massive disadvantage.

Imagine how much some of Hatton's natural lightweight opponents must have been outweighed by. Rios must have been outweighed by 10-15 lbs on fight night for instance..."

Totally agree, James. It's beginning to stick in my craw; I mean the alleged reason we've got seventy-million fornicating divisions is so no-one gets an unfair weight advantage, and then this shit is pulled and promoters/handlers still get to bluster and bullshit about "safety" when what they really mean is "fornicate, my bloke might be a decent enough middleweight, but see what he can do to a bloke twenty pounds lighter..." How about the poor sod who's outweighed? Does his safety not count?

If they're gonna continue with the idiocy of the day before weigh-in, then let's have a divisional cull; which of course won't happen because then there'll be less titles to go around...