Rock and Roll is a form of music entertainment that influenced our culture as a whole, and at the root of it you can find the Blues and beneath the Blues slavery. In the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame you have individuals who influenced the culture and music business in multiple incarnations, because as Artists they weren’t so prone to being pigeonholed. Eric Clapton, a curator of the Blues was inducted as a member of Cream and as a solo artist; he is also considered a pioneer in pushing the limitations of his instrument. It makes sense to me, just like combining Ralph Sampson’s short but spectacular NBA career with his monstrous College years can equate to a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Induction. “Criteria” can be moved around to serve special cases and new categories can be added to include inductees who “deserve” immortality by unique distinction. Raw Accomplishment and statistical data can be manipulated, but what certain occurrences “meant” simply aren’t quantified with ease, so it requires a progressive body to explain WHY the number 42 can’t be worn by any major league baseball player, ever. With Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado reminding us what happens when a fight is truly worth immortalizing I think it is perfect timing to have a different kind of discussion about Arturo Gatti. In this case I believe it my duty to explain something about the deceased and the beloved “Jersey Guy”; but I can’t tell you what he “is” without including Mickey Ward. The reason I mention Ward is because the two men as a “happening” deserve preservation and posterity in Canastota even if the sum of these two parts alone fall short of individual distinction.
Accomplishments in the Modern Era are tenuous and murky due to how screwed up the Sport can be at times. I mean if Ricky Hatton adds a USBA strap to his collection or some British “Title” will it enhance his Canastota case? Or will you remember the face first drops he took to the canvas between two of the best fighters of this era; ironically he now holds the distinction as the last guy Boxing’s “Big Two” (Mayweather and Pacquiao) KO’d convincingly. Naseem Hamed was more decorated than Gatti and Ward and brought money to the featherweight division but we never saw his heart-but we saw Gatti and Wards heart every time they crossed paths. The shootout he got into with an old and desperate Kevin Kelley wasn’t fair, he knew there was a clear separation between him and the New Yorker, Gatti vs. Ward was in peril every glorious minute of all three bouts. Gatti and Ward came to us as a companion piece; and if they weren’t a big deal (due to their “level”) how come many of you reading this remember what you said to yourself when it was announced? You knew when it was announced you were going to be WATCHING, and you also knew a certain “spirit” of Boxing’s glorious past would be upheld. HBO knew as well, which is why they made it their business to pay both men like the so called elite fighters they would never be. You knew that whatever Sylvester Stallone greeted with the original installment of Rocky, whatever that “genre” was called –Gatti vs. Ward would advance the script to include “2 Rocky’s”, and this was not a movie, this was real. For some perspective what Chavez Jr. did for 30 seconds back in September, Gatti and Ward did for 30 ROUNDS. What the referee would not allow Mike Alvarado to attempt last Saturday night Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward both succeed at in round 9 of their first fight. May 18th 2002 Night in Connecticut was so brutal there were many who questioned the wisdom of even entertaining the next two bouts, and yet both men entered back into the meat grinder. Brandon Rios won’t be allowed to finish the rest of the book he started with Alvarado last Saturday, he’ll be pushed into a big money Pacquiao fight seeing that as a conventional path to immortality. What I’m saying is the Boxing Hall of Fame should create a new path, they’ve recognized uncrowned champions like Sam Langford- why not a special wing for men who are conjoined by blood and guts?. Men who become the ceremonial “hyphen” to one another because they left their marks on us together and you can’t separate one man from the other. Ward and Gatti ended up lifelong friends, so in the name of Gatti’s life cut short he should be there to enter the Hall of Fame “with” his old buddy.
The “Warrior Wing”; Designated for the Greatest Fight Series of All Time
Our Hall of Fame shouldn’t look like the others anyway, because of the way we are structured and the brutality involved (in and out of the ring) should give us license to be different. Sometimes amassing a bunch of plastic (“belts”) isn’t the only way to immortality, nor is looking theoretically “correct” while you do it. Floyd Mayweathers story will be one of great talent and technical brilliance; but like Ali if he sticks around much longer you’ll learn about his chin and the fact that he is indeed a “fighter”. I don’t want to visit a Hall of Fame that will not allow me to gain insight into that special occurrence when 2 men take one another’s measure more than once. I want to know the background story behind Graziano vs. Zale and Holyfield vs. Bowe because the hardest thing for a fighter to do is win a well contested series. The Boxing Hall of Fame should accommodate this yearning for context and knowledge, especially since we call our oldest and most prestigious publication “The Bible of Boxing”. I also believe the number of times two men are nominated for “Fight of the Year” should be a statistical addendum to both records; Gatti and Ward did it 3 times, together. Don’t ever forget, statistics are numerical representations of actual occurrences, Gatti and Wards being an epic encounter was a predictable and actual occurrence. Joe Namath threw a ton of interceptions, and yet he is immortalized for what he did, how he did it and what it meant; and Boxing should know about “context” considering its long history. Gatti and Ward can inaugurate a wing of the Hall of Fame that will allow fans to (without “analysis”) rekindle our respect for men like Diego Corrales and Glenn Johnson; men who weren’t “elite” but never had a problem with the ritual and savage familiarity that comes with rivalry.
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