Floyd Mayweather likes to say, “There’s nothing cool about taking punishment.” But with all due respect to boxing’s current pound-for-pound king, there can be beauty in blood. A revisit of the trilogy between Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward reminds us of that.
On Saturday, HBO premieres its latest documentary: “Legendary Nights: The Tale of Gatti-Ward.” It’s a retrospective of the three slugfests the two boxers waged over a 13-month span 10 years ago.
While the film offers virtually no new information boxing fans familiar with the three fights don’t already know, it takes viewers on an emotional journey that evokes cheers, tears, laughs, sadness and ultimately respect for the fighters and their courage.
“In those fights everybody won,” Ken Hershman, president of HBO Sports, said. “Micky won, Arturo won and we as fans won.”
The film opens with haunting scene of Gatti’s burial chamber inside a Montreal mausoleum. There is a black-and-white picture of his solemn face draped in a hoodie.
“Great fighters die like everyone else,” said Mark Wahlberg, who narrates the film. “Their lives end sometimes naturally, sometimes not so naturally. What makes great fighters different is what they leave behind. The memories of the nights they stepped into the ring and did things with their bodies and their heart that shouldn’t have been possible.”
It sets a somber tone for a film that is centered on Ward’s visit to Canastota, N.Y., last June, where Gatti, who died in 2009, was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. While there are many thrilling moments watching the replays of their three 10-round battles (Ward won the first, Gatti won the last two) the lasting thought is the reality Gatti isn’t here to savor the memories of his epic battles with Ward.
Gatti was found dead in a resort condo in Brazil. His wife, Amanda Rodrigues Gatti, was initially charged in his death, but released after Brazilian authorities conducted an investigation and ruled it was a suicide. Those within Gatti’s inner circle including his longtime manager, Pat Lynch, still believe Rodrigues had some role in the fighter’s death, but the film doesn’t delve too deeply into the controversy. Instead, it focuses on the boxers, their careers, their three bouts and their friendship afterward.
Gatti, born in Italy, raised in Montreal and groomed in New Jersey to be fighter, had been a world champion, but seemed to be finished after a devastating loss to Oscar De La Hoya. Ward, a journeyman from Lowell, Mass., had already lost 10 fights. But their styles and their heart made them perfect for each other.
Neither was flashy nor highly skilled. But they had plenty of courage, heart and determination.
“I didn’t mind taking the pain, taking the punishment,” Ward said. “I didn’t mind the stitches or getting cut. You’ve got to do what you do to survive. That’s how I fought.”
Jim Lampley, who called those fights, said Gatti-Ward I, Round 9, was the best he has ever witnessed. It would be tough to disagree after reliving the intensity of that round. The film could have been based on those three minutes alone.
“Somehow the whole became much greater than the sum of its parts,” Gatti’s promoter, Kathy Duva, said. “The two of them together created history. Neither one could have done it by himself. But together they became iconic.”
That’s the lingering beauty in their punishment.
The documentary will be shown following the replay of Timothy Bradley’s win over Juan Manuel Marquez last week in Las Vegas and a live world championship bout in which Mike Alvarado (34-1, 23 KOs) of Denver defends his WBO junior welterweight title against Russia’s Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KOs) in Broomfield, Colo.