Arturo Gatti

Arturo Gatti

Arturo “Thunder” Gatti (born April 15, 1972) is an Italian-Canadian former professional boxer. Gatti was born in Italy to Italian parents, but his family moved to Canada when he was young and he was raised in Montreal (borough of Montreal-Nord). He has lived in Jersey City, New Jersey from1991–99.

He has participated in Ring Magazine‘s “fight of the year” a total of four times (1997, 1998, 2002, and 2003).

Historic trilogy against Micky Ward

In 2001, Gatti only had one fight, going up in weight to meet Welterweight Oscar de la Hoya, who beat him by a technical knockout in five rounds. In 2002, Gatti returned to the junior welterweight division and defeated former world champion Terronn Millett by a knockout in round four.

He then split two ten round decisions with “Irish” Micky Ward, losing their first bout, but winning their second. Gatti-Ward I also garnered “fight of the year” honors by Ring Magazine.

On June 7, 2003, he and Ward had a rubber match. Gatti broke his twice-repaired right hand on an uppercut to the hip in the fourth, and he dropped his arm, wincing in pain. He fought nearly one-handed for several rounds afterward, using his right sparingly. In the sixth, Gatti dominated the round but got caught with an overhand right to the top of the head a second before the bell rang and went down. Gatti then recovered again and was never in trouble after that. The final scorecards read, 96–93 (twice), and 97–92, in favor of Gatti. The third fight between the two was again named “fight of the year” by Ring Magazine.

On January 24, 2004, Gatti also recovered from a broken hand, scored a tenth round knock-down and defeated Gianluca Branco of Italy by a twelve round unanimous decision to win the vacant WBC junior welterweight title.

On July 24, 2004, he knocked out the previously unbeaten former world champion Leonard Dorin in two rounds at Atlantic City, to retain his title. It should be noted that Dorin was dropped with one single body shot.

Gatti’s second defense of his WBC title came against former world junior lightweight champion Jesse James Leija on January 29, 2005. Gatti beat Leija by a fifth round knockout.

In his next fight, Gatti was dominated by former Super Featherweight and Lightweight world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. on June 25. Gatti’s corner threw in the towel, thus ending his title reign via sixth-round technical knockout, in what is regarded as Gatti’s worst defeat.

After the loss to Mayweather, Gatti moved up to the welterweight division. He beat Thomas Damgaard on January 28, 2006, by an eleventh round technical knockout.

On July 22, 2006, Gatti was knocked out by Carlos Baldomir vying for the world welterweight Championship. He then broke off his relationship with Buddy McGirt and had a new trainer in Micky Ward.

Gatti attempted a comeback on July 14, 2007 against Alfonso Gomez. After the fight Gatti announced his retirement in the dressing room, reportedly quipping: “I’ll be back—as a spectator.”

Here is a tribute Video to, in my opinion, the most entertaining fighter of this decade!

Manny Ramirez To Mets Rumor

Manny to Mets makes sense, but not to ownership

So the move that makes the most sense now is Manny Ramirez to the Mets. Rudimentary stuff. Baseball 101. Right?

The Yankees had Manny as a fallback in case they didn’t get Mark Teixeira, but they did, so he’s not going there. And he’s not going to Boston, because … well, I think it’s fair to say he burned some bridges on his way out of there. And the Angels’ GM said Tuesday that there’s no way they’re going to sign him.

So, the Mets. Right? Perfect fit. They need somebody to play left field. He’s a monster hitter who’d probably put them over the top in the National League now that they have the bullpen worked out. They have money to spend (or so they say, Bernie Madoff notwithstanding). They need another lavage for the wounds left from another September collapse. Bring a New York guy, who also happens to be a future Hall of Famer, home? Perfect fit.

Except, no.

People familiar with the Mets’ thinking say it’s not happening, according to the Newark (N.J.) Star Ledger.

Omar Minaya loves the guy, wants him badly, but he can’t sell him to ownership. Talk to people associated with the Mets, and they’ll all tell you the same thing — if the Mets were going to get Manny Ramirez, they’d have got him in July, when he was practically free. When all you had to give up was two mid-range prospects and the Red Sox were paying his whole salary. But they didn’t, and it wasn’t because they were lazy or unmotivated. It was because the people who own the team don’t want him on the team. That hasn’t changed, and it’s not about to.

Which is why the guy who had the worst day Tuesday, other than Theo Epstein, was Manny Ramirez. Because, honestly, where is he going to go now?

Source: Newark Star-Ledger

Yankees sign Teixeira

By Gordon Edes, Yahoo! Sports

The New York Yankees, thought to be on the fringes of the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes, dramatically swooped in at the last moment to strike a deal for the biggest prize among position players on the free-agent market.

The Yankees, who in the last two weeks signed the top two starting pitchers on the market, left-hander CC Sabathia and right-hander A.J. Burnett, came to terms with Teixeira on Tuesday for an eight-year, $180 million deal.

Their stealth negotiations with the switch-hitting first baseman came as a staggering blow to their American League East archrivals, the Boston Red Sox, as well as the Los Angeles Angels, who had hoped to retain Teixeira after winning a franchise-best 100 games last season before dropping out of the bidding Sunday.

The Yankees, with money to spend after lopping $86 million off their 2008 payroll, have now likely invested more than $400 million in signing Sabathia, Burnett and now Teixeira, who make the Yankees instant favorites to supplant the Tampa Bay Rays as champions of the American League East.

The Yankees will have nine players being paid $13 million or more in 2009. Those nine players – Teixeira, Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, A.J. Burnett, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon – combine for $159.1 million, more than the payroll of any other team.

Last season the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in 13 years, and with George Steinbrenner’s sons, Hal and Hank, serving as the team’s co-chairmen, with the elder Steinbrenner formally ceding control of the club to 39-year-old Hal last month, clearly no expense is being spared to return the club to October eminence.

Teixeira positioned himself perfectly to be this winter’s highest-paid free-agent acquisition by hitting .358 with 13 home runs, 43 RBIs and a dazzling .449 on-base percentage in 54 games with the Angels after being acquired on July 29 from the Atlanta Braves. Teixeira, who led the Angels in every major offensive category and also played Gold Glove-caliber defense, hit .308 with a .410 OBP overall in ‘08, with 33 home runs and 121 RBIs.

They now have under contract the four highest-paid players in the game, in terms of total value of the deal: Rodriguez, Jeter, Teixeira and Sabathia.

Here is a video I found on YouTube from a Yankee fan, which should only fuel the fire on the Red Sox Yankee rivalry.