Styles Make Fights Classics Vol VII: Gatti-Ward Trilogy
Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward staged the most famous trilogy of the 21st century from 2002 - 2003. Two of the 3 fights were Ring Magazine fights of the year, and Round 9 from Ward - Gatti 1 was considered the Round of the Year. If you haven’t watched them all, set some time aside.
Gatti-Ward I; May 18, 2002 Uncasville, Connecticut
Ward upset Gatti in Uncasville, Connecticut in their first fight. Great looks from both fighters.
Gatti wore white trunks with a dark royal blue waistband and a blue stripe on along the side.
He had Gatti rotated counterclockwise so it read left to right up his left thigh.
On his right thigh was the logo of Canadian apparell brand Ironhead. Gatti rounded out his look with red Cleto Reyes boxing gloves and blue lace up shoes.
Ward wore white trunks with a red waistband with WARD written in italic lettering. He had an American flag on his right front thigh, and LOWELL SPINNERS (the local minor league baseball affiliate) in red block typeface across his seat.
Like Gatti, he had red Cleto Reyes gloves and blue shoes.
Gatti - Ward II; November 23, 2002 Atlantic City, NJ
Gatti got his revenge in the rematch six months later.
Gatti went with blue Everlast trunks with an Everlast emblem on the waistband, his full name in white block lettering on his right thigh, and his nickname THUNDER along the left thigh.
A police emblem adorned the bottom of the back side of his right thigh, and a MAIN events emblem was on his back waistband.
Gatti’s gloves were red and logo-less and he wore white socks and shoes.
Ward sported a similar look to the first fight.
The template was nearly the same, with white trunks with a red waistband. Unlike the first fight he had a red (and not a blue stripe) down the side and he added a strip of blue along the bottom of his trunks that was absent for the first fight. He had an Everlast logo along the waistband with WARD in blue with red outlining just below the waistband:
Ward had a 9 on his right front thigh and a US Marine Corps emblem on his front left and back right thighs.
The seat of his trunks were otherwise blank although he did have a matching Everlast logo along the back waistband.
Ward repeated his blue shoes and wore dark brick red gloves with a fairly old school Everlast logo.
Gatti - Ward III; June 7, 2003 Atlantic City, New Jersey
Gatti took the final fight as well, and sported an all-white look. Worth noting that both fighers returned to red Cleto Reyes gloves for the rubber match.
Gatti had all-white trunks with a white waistband with THUNDER in royal blue across it.
“Arturo” and “Gatti” were written in script on his right and left thighs, respectively. A Main Events logo was on the bottom right thigh and an Everlast logo was beneath his left. The back of his trunks was blank save for an Everlast logo along the back of the waistband.
Gatti wore white shoes and white socks along with aforementioned Cleto Reyes gloves.
Ward, meanwhile, stuck to his basic template with a couple of tweaks.
He maintained his red waistband, red stripes along the side and blue striped lining along the bottom -- all identical to the second fight. He kept the Everlast logo template with WARD beneath, but in the third fight WARD was written in block RED with blue outlining (reversed from the second fight).
His trunks in the third fight lacked any of the ads or emblems from the second, although along the back of his trunks was a LOWELL SPINNERS emblem:
Ward wore the same blue shoes for the third fight in a row.
What a trilogy. Watch’em all when you have a chance:
