HALL OF AN HONOR: Arturo Gatti, four years after his mysterious death, will enter the Boxing Hall of Fame tomorrow. (
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CANASTOTA, N.Y. — Tears of joy and tears of sadness will flow here Sunday when Arturo Gatti’s name is announced as he inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. It’s an honor that is well deserved for his brilliant ring career, but will be tempered by the still painful memory of his untimely death four years ago.
“It’s sad he’s not going to be there,” his long-time manager, Pat Lynch, told The Post. “I know he’ll be looking down. It’s going to be a very happy day, but it’s going to be a very sad day.”
Few would have predicted Gatti would reach boxing’s ultimate fraternity when he moved from his native Montreal at age 19 to join his older brother, Joe, in Jersey City to pursue a professional boxing career. He won his first two pro fights by knockout, and after stopping Richard De Jesus in 28 seconds of his third fight, he signed a contract with Main Events, the New Jersey-based promotional company that guided his entire career.
He goes into the Hall of Fame not for being the most skilled fighter of his era, but as promoter Lou DiBella said: “the most exciting fighter of his generation.”
“It didn’t matter if he won or lost,” said DiBella, who handled boxing programming at HBO during most of Gatti’s 21 fights for the network. “He captivated people. He had a warrior spirit in the ring.”
That warrior spirit will be remembered tomorrow when Gatti joins boxer Virgil Hill, referee Mills Lane, announcer Jim Lennon Jr., journalist Colin Hart and boxer Myung-Woo Yuh of Seoul, South Korea, in the Class of 2013. Among those applauding Gatti’s induction is former heavyweight champion and Hall of Famer Mike Tyson, who met Gatti when he was 10 years old.
“I remember him being so determined and so hungry,” Tyson said. “He wanted to be a champion so bad.”
Gatti became a three-time world champion who amassed a record of 40-9 with 31 knockouts before retiring in 2007. His good looks, charming smile and toe-to-toe style generated a huge following that guaranteed sellout crowds in Atlantic City and New York. His three fights with Micky Ward are considered by many the best boxing trilogy next to Ali-Frazier. But he also had epic battles with Tracy Harris Patterson, Ivan Robinson, and Wilson Rodriguez. When “Thunder” Gatti fought, it was an event.
“Sometimes you catch lightning in a bottle and that’s what happened,” said Main Events promoter Kathy Duva. “The thing about Arturo is that people identified with him. He was just like the people who came to see him fight and I think they knew that.”
Gatti died on July 11, 2009, under circumstances those closest to him can’t accept. His lifeless body was found in a Brazilian beachfront condo where he was on vacation with his wife, Amanda Rodrigues, and their infant son, Arturo Jr. His death was initially ruled a homicide and Rodrigues was arrested. But she was released three weeks later after an autopsy concluded Gatti, 37, had committed suicide by hanging himself from the stairs with his wife’s purse strap. The case is now closed in Brazil, but that hasn’t satisfied those who are still seeking justice.
“I’m 100 percent convinced he was murdered and didn’t commit suicide,” Lynch said. “No one will convince me of that.”
Added Duva: “If you told me he drove his car into a wall, took drugs or shot himself, I might have bought that. Hung by his wife’s purse strap? Nah. Somebody was sending a message.”
Yet, it is well known Gatti struggled with alcoholism, and addiction to pain killers and other drugs. Mario Costa and Tom Casino, who knew Gatti since he first arrived from Canada, said he suffered from depression toward the end of his career and into retirement because of his alcoholism and substance abuse.
“He shouldn’t have been fighting at all,” said Costa, who was the first to take in Gatti when he arrived from Canada. “He needed professional help. I thought he was going to die in the ring. He looked good, but he was a physical and mental mess inside.”
Casino, now a photographer for Showtime Sports, was among those who tried to help Gatti and is one of the few who believe Amanda was not involved in his death.
“If I thought she killed my friend, I’d ask to pull the switch on the electric chair,” Casino said. “But I don’t think she did it and there’s no evidence.He wanted to stop drinking, but it was very difficult for him. We were trying to help him with that. But he was at a jumping off point where he wanted to stop, but he couldn’t stop. Nobody wants to hear it, but the frame of mind he was in, it was conducive to what happened.”
Others aren’t convinced.
“If he wanted to kill himself, he’d get a gun and try to blow his head off,” said Carl Moretti, who was a matchmaker for Main Events when Gatti turned pro. “He wouldn’t go through this elaborate thing while being drunk. I’m not saying he couldn’t ever kill himself. I’m just saying that’s not how it would have happened.”
The circumstances of his death will be a cloud that hangs over Gatti’s induction but can’t blemish the fighter he was.
“I think he would prefer that everybody remember the guy in the ring that everybody was cheering for because I think that’s when he was most happy,” Duva said.
That’s how we all should remember Hall of Famer Arturo “Thunder” Gatti.