Those close to Gatti crushed by news of his death

NEWARK , N.J. -- Everyone walked around in a daze Saturday evening at the Prudential Center prior to Tomasz Adamek’s RING cruiserweight championship defense against Bobby Gunn. Suddenly, the fight had little relevance.

The shocking death of Arturo Gatti was all anyone could talk about.

The 37-year-old retired fighter was found dead in a hotel room at a beach resort in northeastern Brazil, according to a number of reports. The body reportedly was discovered Saturday, the day after he arrived for a second honeymoon with his wife and 18-month-old son.

It’s unclear how he died -– he suffered no gunshot or stab wounds –- but blood stains, apparently the result of blunt trauma to the head, seem to indicate murder.

As the news spread back home, all those he touched reacted with horror. That includes Micky Ward, with whom he engaged in an epic three-fight series that will go down in boxing lore as one of the greatest ever.

Ward and Gatti became close friends toward the end of their careers.

“I can’t believe it,” Ward said by phone from his home in Lowell, Mass. “I really can’t believe it. I don’t know what to think or what to say. [Actor] Chuck Zito just called me about it around five o’clock and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I know it happened and it’s still hard to believe.

“I’m walking around in a daze. I’m just dazed by it all. You fight a guy, you go to war with them, and there is a respect there. But with me and Arturo, it was greater. There was a real bond between us. It’s why hearing this, hearing what happened to Arturo is like a piece of you is gone, because we shared so much of everything in the ring. We were friends, close friends.

“It is unreal. I can’t put it into words how I feel and how it happened. We’re hearing he may have been murdered. That’s extremely hard to deal with, because the man I knew was a great man and a great friend. He should be remembered as one of the toughest and greatest fighters who ever fought. But he was a lot more than just boxing. Arturo was a real man, a great man. He was more than just a fighter. We lost a great person.”

Pat Lynch, Gatti’s long-time manager and a dear friend, was reached by phone while vacationing in Italy with his family but was too distraught to talk. The only thing he could say was that, “I’m devastated. He was like a son to me.”

Lynch said he was going to cut his vacation short in an attempt to bring back Gatti’s body to Jersey City, N.J., his home away from home. Gatti grew up in Montreal.

The man known as “Thunder” was what fans expect their fighters to be –- the toughest guy on the block with the willingness to prove it. His exciting, go-for-broke style made him a fan favorite and made for some of the best fights of the past two decades.

Gatti was a four-time participant in THE RING’s Fight of the Year, for his five-round stoppage of Gabriel Ruelas in 1997, for his 10-round decision loss to Ivan Robinson in 1998 and twice against Ward, in 2002 and 2003.

Just his name on the marquee of Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall was enough to sell it out. Main Events, Gatti’s longtime promotional firm, could always rely on Gatti’s big gates and large followings.

Main Events President Kathy Duva learned of Gatti’s death Saturday afternoon and had a difficult time believing it. She said she was in denial for two hours before leaving for the Prudential Center.

Gatti was raised by Main Events, signed as an 18-year-old by Kathy’s late husband, Dan Duva. He stayed with Main Events throughout his 16-year career.

“I’ve been through a lot in life and I’ve learned how to keep it together, but this is a tough day, it’s a challenge,” Kathy Duva said. “Arturo never took anything seriously. I remember after one of his fights against Ward, I think it was the second fight, when Arturo came back to his locker room with his right hand swollen and he wanted to go out and party. He had a different sense of things. The only way I can remember Arturo is with a grin on his face.”

Then Duva got a little twinkle in her eye and a wide smile cut across her face. She recalled a classic Gatti tale of the time after he fought Wilson Rodriguez in 1996. Gatti scored a sixth–round TKO but suffered a knockdown, cuts and swelling around his eyes that threatened to end the contest before scoring a dramatic turn around with a body shot.

No one said anything in Gatti’s locker room as he emerged from the bathroom. Thunder took a quick look around and bellowed in Rocky fashion, “Yo Adrienne!”

Harold Lederman, HBO’s “Unofficial Judge,” recalled the many times Gatti would hold court in an Atlantic City bar, regaling 40, 50 people with his tales of what went on earlier in the night or in previous battles.

“It’s just so tough that the boxing community loses two of the greatest action fighters the sport has ever had in a week, when we lost Alexis Arguello and now Arturo,” Lederman said. “Arturo loved life. He was not only a great fighter but a wonderful person.”

Robinson was there Saturday night at the Prudential Center, working the corner of Philadelphia junior middleweight Tyrone Miles on the Adamek-Gunn undercard. Robinson’s bottom lip quivered as he spoke about his former foe, about someone who in Robinson’s words, “made me.”

“It was tough to hear,” Robinson said. “I’m hurt, I’m really hurt, and I’m not afraid to say it. It’s really hard to believe, but hearing Arturo died touched me. People loved this guy, and who can you talk to who didn’t love him?”

Lou DiBella promoted the three Gatti-Ward fights.

“Arturo was the greatest television fighter I ever saw,” DiBella said. “He did everything 140 miles an hour in and out of the ring. It’s still a shock to me that I’m talking about him and he’s gone at 37. Arturo’s death is shocking; but it isn’t shocking that Arturo didn’t reach old age, that part isn’t shocking.

“It’s not too shocking that his flame went out too soon. He lived his life and everything he did in his life with passion. Arturo was loyal, dedicated, a human highlight reel. He was a man’s man. I’ll miss him.”

Perhaps no one will miss him more than the fighters he fought and shared blood and sweat with.

Sometime on Saturday night Robinson will have caught a train back to Philadelphia, giving him time to absorb the horrible news.

“I’ll sit by myself and cry, thinking about Arturo,” he said. “Tonight I’m going to cry on the way home because I lost a friend today.”


The Associated Press contributed to this report.