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For Gatti, when will the wars take their toll?
 By Rob Scott (July 21, 2006)
There is a difference in a champion and a challenger; there is a difference in a moneymaker and a money taker; there is a difference in brave hearts and having no heart; as far as boxing in Atlantic City, there is a difference in Arturo ‘Thunder’ Gatti and all the rest.
This Saturday Arturo Gatti, 40-7 (31), again finds himself in the big show, as he challenges Argentina’s Carlos Baldomir, 42-9-6 (12), for his WBC welterweight belt at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in a bout that will be seen around the world on HBO’s World Championship Boxing.
In Atlantic City, it’s easy to use the term, ‘Big show’, when it comes to a Gatti outing, because fans come out in droves to see him fight. “Gatti – Gatti – Gatti”, is the chorus that echoes throughout, as he has participated in some of the most exciting bouts of the past decade.
Even after a one sided beating at the hands of Floyd Mayweather last year, Gatti proves that a name and reputation can go a long way. Gatti’s name and reputation has landed him a shot at Baldomir, who is perceived as the ‘real’ welterweight champion, and whether his shot is justified or not, it’s his blood and gut showings that keep the fans coming back for more. It’s the reason Gatti is making his 8th straight appearance in A.C’s Boardwalk Hall and his 20th appearance on HBO. The only thing about spilling your blood and guts though, is it eventually drains a fighter up to just a shell.
I once again I find myself thinking back on one of my favorite sayings that says, ‘Too little of something is not good and too much of something is just as bad’. In boxing, if a fighter doesn’t face adversity coming up, they’re on borrowed time, because adversity is inevitable later on in their career. Gatti seems to face adversity head on in every outing, but it’s that accumulative adversity that will be the toll takers.
With all the changes that different commissions are trying to make in their effort to show that the sport is safe, quick stoppages do happen. Gatti on the other hand has thrived on the comeback, and he is one fighter that has been allowed to take multiple shots while making that typical Gatti comeback. If he gets in trouble this weekend look for the show to go on, but like with any fighter, you can’t help but wonder which shot will be one too many?
It’s said, you don’t lose your chin – you lose your legs, but accumulation of punishment can cause a fighter to lose their faculties. The right shot can cause a fighter to lose their life.
Carlos Baldomir, while coming off of his WBC title winning effort against Zab Judah this past January, isn’t seen as a killer puncher, as his 12 KOs in 57 outings have shown, but he is however, durable. He has also tasted a new found fame that he isn’t going to just give up. He is a big fighter that resides at welterweight, but can easily make Jr. middleweight and middleweight his home, much like when Gatti campaigned at the Jr. welterweight limit.
In fact, with all the controversy that took place after the IBF and the WBA wouldn’t recognize Baldomir as champion over supposed sanctioning fees, many people didn’t know that it was Baldomir’s refusal to participate in the IBF’s next day weigh-in, a rule that ironically was instituted after Gatti’s February 2000 bout with Joey Gamache in which Gatti gained almost twenty pounds by fight time, that was the real factor why Baldomir wasn’t recognized by the New Jersey based organization.
It’s known that Gatti can box and Baldomir is no Floyd Mayweather or Ivan Robinson by any stretch of the boxing imagination, but Gatti ’s penchant for war most likely will surface, which will, as usual, make his fight harder than it has to be.
There is a time to box and say, "War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin'!” like the lyrics from the 1970 Edwin Starr protest tune that was praised by many during the turbulent times of the Vietnam crisis, but however it most likely will gets no play or acknowledgement when connected to an Arturo Gatti fight, as warring has been the something that has made Gatti the darling of Atlantic City, HBO and the boxing world.
A fighter's well can and will run dry. Gatti can indeed become old over night. With all the wars, will Gatti’s night come faster than he expected? He's lost before, so that's not the issue, but as the old saying of 'death and taxes are your only guarantees in life', for Gatti’s sake let hope that the wars haven’t taxed him too much, because I would hate to see the death of this warrior in the ring.
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