ATLANTIC CITY – Buddy McGirt says no mas. Assuming Arturo Gatti, whom McGirt trains, beat Thomas Damgaard last night here to win the IBA welterweight championship, then Floyd Mayweather beats Zab Judah April 8 to win the IBF welterweight title, there still will be no unification match.
“Floyd can keep his welterweight title and we can keep our welterweight title and we’ll be happy,” McGirt said.
Mayweather, who may be too quick and good for anybody, certainly was for Gatti in June, knocking him out in seven rounds. The fight was so one-sided, Larry Hazzard, the state commissioner, ordered neurological tests of Gatti before he would sanction this one.
“When you see a fighter of that style, who takes that kind of punishment, there’s always concern that in the end it’s not going to end up good,” said Hazzard, who says Gatti probably is the highest profile fighter he has ever ordered tested.
But Gatti was worried enough by his performance to harbor no resentment.
“I was feeling good but who knows what’s going on inside your body,” he said. “I was happy to know. I felt comfortable and excited training, knowing I was healthy. It’s great nobody wants me to get hurt.”
Perhaps the greatest and probably bloodiest warrior of the era stepped into the ring against the undefeated and unknown Dane weighing seven more pounds than Gatti did against Mayweather, even with the load off his mind.
“I lived with the scale every morning, afternoon and night,” Gatti said. “It was such a struggle to get to 140 (fighting as a super lightweight). This camp little by little I stopped going on the scale until the last three weeks and it was great.
“You will see a guy doing what he likes to do best and being happy at the same time.”
No question, the boxing public, expected to almost fill 12,000 seat Boardwalk Hall last night, likes best what Gatti likes to do best, wade in and take whatever required to dish out more.
“The only time he’ll be in the center of the ring is when they touch gloves,” McGirt had predicted, promising a saner, safer, Gatti against the lefthanded counterpuncher.
Still, the Dane’s style should have been perfect for Gatti, who at 33 knew his career as a headliner probably was on the line.
“I can’t look ahead because I lost my last fight,” said Gatti. “No excuses, but that just wasn’t me in the ring against Mayweather, and it was hard for me to deal with.
“It took a long time to go back to camp. I needed something like a 12-round title fight to pump me up.”
It was not Gatti’s first loss, only the most severe. He bounced back from a war with Micky Ward to win the rematch and rubber match, was TKOd by Angel Manfredy and Oscar De La Hoya, but came back to win the WBC super lightweight title from Gianluco Branco, then defend it with knockouts of Leonard Dorin and Jesse James Leija.
“People have said [Gatti is finished] before,” said McGirt. “He doesn’t focus on that, is just motivated to come back and fight again.
“We were fighting the best fighter out there in Mayweather, no ifs ands or buts about it; but after a fight like that, some guys don’t get the opportunity. He’s happy he’s back, happy with the new weight, a totally different person.”
And last night we found out if Gatti were a different, damaged fighter, something nobody wanted to see.