Comments Thread For: A Line at a Time… “Thunder” Still Doesn’t Belong

[rogdogx]

what go screw yourself fitzsimmonds. gatti was the ultimate action fighter of course he belongs he was more man then u could ever be chump.

[r2rsoto]

Lyle is an attention wh00r3...

Its funny how much of a nerve is touched with Gatti. Gatti was special because frankly? he was one of us...Watching a fighter like James Toney, even a 400 pound Toney, punch drunk and surely as a drunken sailor it is immeditely obvious how beautiful the man moves around the ring. We can look at that and see how gifted, how particular that talent is.

Gatti? Gatti was beautifully ugly!! He won ugly by being relentless! He found a way to paray his willfulness and defy the odds and inspired us. The Ward Gatti fight was a recognition, a fanfare for the common man a la boxing...two guys who were basically club fighters (whats wrong with that BTW?) one step from the guy coming home from the factory and putting on the mitts....It was a contest of wills not skills!

I think if it is understood that boxing has its roots, whether in England, Irish Immigrants, Cuban expats, or Russian ***s in Brooklyn....as a working man's endevour. The beauty of two men beating each other and settling it, shaking on it, buying the other guy a beer....no winner or loser need be declared, friends for life, having shared something as intimate as anything in this world. And to me that was Gatti. The fact that he could even get into a ring and challenge Mayweather for a few rounds is a testiment to how much one can accomplish when acting as a man in a man's world. In the Mayweather fight Gatti never backed down. He had to be forced to stop.

In boxing there is in fact room for "club fighters" because most of us would be club fighters. In fact very few are born with all the tools to fight like a James Toney, a Mayweather or a Donaire. Gatti's fights were more than entertainment....in much the same way that Hemmingway wrote about more than simply bullfights.

I would have to agree that this writer, who I find entertaining, does not seem to get this aspect of prize fighting. Prodigy's are surely the rule of the day, but when LaMotta fought Ray Robinson and kept coming and coming, it showed that even the best fighter...perhaps ever! could at least once, be overcome by the sheer will of a guy who might be considered by Fitzy and his Ilk as a "club fighter."

I can't believe this poster have a lot more common sense than Lyle Fitz... Incredible post, i like every line of it... Fitz, I don't think he's a POS writer, it's just that he tries too damn HARD to be different, if you pay attention he just change your attention to a secondary point on the writing every 4th or 5th line.... He's like one of the main characters of a soap opera that always talks in third person....
Fitz, for your own good... read at least four hundred and thirty two times the masterpiece that Thomas Gerbasi wrote pacquiao-vs-marquez-4-who-dared-won-lost--60442 and please... don't try too hard again... The handbag comment was out of line, will you make a joke like that about what happen on Newton, Conn.????
Yeah... that's what I thought....

[A-Wolf]

Gatti for the Hall of Skill? No.

Gatti for the Hall of Fame. Yes.

[!! Shawn]

By Lyle Fitzsimmons - Upon getting word last week that my colleagues in the Boxing Writers Association of America elevated Arturo Gatti to “Hall of Famer” status, my initial reaction was… well, let’s just say I wasn’t happy.

It’s not that I don’t think Gatti was a swell guy and it’s not that I’m not sad about his premature demise. I’m sure he was kind to old ladies and loved cuddly animals – which is as good a barometer as any – and I feel sympathy for those who grieve when anyone dies, regardless of the circumstances involved.

But suffice it to say for writing purposes that I’m glad I had something else – namely one of the most stunning big-fight endings I’ve ever seen – to occupy my time last week.

Otherwise, it could have gotten a mite ugly in these parts.

On that topic, and before we get too much further, here’s where it might be appropriate – in the interest of saving me a ton of subsequent email and other communication – to indicate that this is a column, an opinion piece and not a straightforward news account. [Click Here To Read More]

Lyle is like Piers Morgan.

[r2rsoto]

Lyle is like Piers Morgan.

Morgan.... OMG!

What do you want?

Teachers capable to kill an assassin????

or Teachers able to teach????

Jesuss.... Fitz was wrong.... and somebody came and conquer...