THE CANADIAN PRESS
Arturo Gatti may not have been the most skilled or the most stylish of boxers, but he was never, ever boring in the ring.
Gatti (40-9), who was found dead in a condominium in northeastern Brazil on Saturday morning, was among the world’s most watched and most entertaining fighters during his 16-year professional career. The Montreal native was 37.
"He had one of the best careers of any fighter to come out of Canada," said former WBO middleweight champion Otis Grant a former amateur teammmate of Gatti’s. "He was never in a boring fight.
"He put Montreal boxing on the world stage. He had great fights. Lots of heart and determination. Some of his fights will be remembered forever."
Gatti was on vacation in Porto de Galinhos, Brazil, with his Brazilian wife Amanda and his one-year-old son Arturo Jr. Police were trying to determine the cause of death.
The five-foot-eight battler held the International Boxing Federation super-featherweight title and the World Boxing Council light welterweight belt during a career that began in 1991 and ended with his retirement in 2007.
Although born in Italy and raised in Montreal, he spent nearly all his career in the United States, fighting mostly out of Atlantic City. His fights were regularly aired by HBO, the top boxing broadcaster.
Known as Thunder for the power of his punches, Gatti had an all-out attacking style that led to bloody brawls in the ring.
His back-and-forth slugfest with Ivan Robinson in 1998, which Gatti lost by split decision, was among his four bouts named fight of the year by The Ring magazine.
"His offence was amazing and his defence was so-so, so it made the fights unbelievable," said Montreal fight trainer Stephan Larouche.
After fighting as an amateur in Canada, Gatti followed his older brother Joe to New Jersey to turn pro. While Joe Gatti had a modest career, Arturo was eye-catching from the start.
In 1995, he won the IBF title with a 12-round decision over the adopted son of former heavyweight champ Floyd Patterson, Tracy Patterson, who he also beat in a rematch two years later. He defended that belt three times before moving up in weight class.
Gatti had a setback with a pair of losses to the slick Robinson, but re-established himself with three spectacular bouts with (Irish) Mickey Ward in 2002 and 2003, with Ward winning the first by majority decision and Gatti taking the next two by unanimous decision.
It was during his comeback from the Robinson losses that he had his only pro fight in Canada, a bloody 10-round decision over Joe Hutchinson at the Bell centre in Montreal. But he was stopped in five rounds in his next fight by boxing star Oscar de la Hoya.
He won the vacant WBC light welterweight title with a win over Gianluca Branco in 2004 and defended it twice, including a second round knockout of Montreal-based Leonard Dorin with a crushing body punch in Atlantic City.
It may have been the beginning of the end on June 25, 2005, when Gatti was overpowered by the gifted Floyd Mayweather, suffering a sixth-round TKO defeat.
He won only one of his last four bouts, losing a title fight to Carlos Baldimir and then losing in seven rounds in his last fight to Alfonso Gomez on July 14, 2007.
Upon his retirement, Gatti moved back to Montreal, where he was involved in a real estate project.
But friends of the fighter said he was having difficulty adjusting to retirement and finding other things to do than training and boxing. There were reports that he was considering a return to the ring.
In April, he was arrested and released on bail after spending a night or two in jail for failing to show up for a court date. He had been charged in connection to a domestic incident in which his wife had called 911, although both later reportedly said they had resolved any differences.
Gatti was not known for out-of-the-ring incidents, unlike his former brother in law Dave Hilton Jr., who had his WBC super-middleweight title stripped after he was convicted of sexual assault against his two daughters.
Hilton and Anna-Maria Gatti have since divorced.
"He was very humble," Larouche said of Gatti. "He always made sure that people around him felt important.
"It was always great to be around him. I guess he’ll be remembered as the greatest boxer in Quebec history."
Grant was a teammate of Gatti when they were amateurs in the 1980s and 1990s. Gatti was expected to fight for Canada at the 1992 Olympics, but opted at age 19 to turn pro instead.
"He went to the U.S. to fight and I stayed here, so we weren’t buddy-buddy," said Grant, choking back tears at the news that Gatti was dead. "But whenever we’d get together, we’d give a big hug.
"This is really tough. This is too much of a common occurance with pro fighters. They retire and something happens. But you never expect it to hit home like this."