Arturo Gatti was one of the most exciting boxers in history. He won world titles in two weight divisions and was involved in The Ring Fight of the Year four times.

Gatti was born in Italy on April 15, 1972. While still a young boy, the Gatti family emigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Living in the Little Italy section of Montreal, Gatti developed a passion for soccer and hockey but eventually followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Joe Gatti, and became a boxer.

After representing Canada at the 1991 World Junior Championships in Peru, Gatti turned professional at age 19. Three years later, he stopped Pete Taliaferro in one round to win the USBA Junior Lightweight Title. Gatti won his first world title in 1995, outpointing Tracy Harris Patterson to win the IBF Junior Lightweight Championship. In his first defense, Gatti had to get off the floor to stop Wilson Rodriguez in six exciting rounds. After outpointing Patterson in a rematch, Gatti stopped Gabriel Ruelas in four thrilling rounds. The Ring named it Fight of the Year for 1997.

After three successful title defenses, Gatti vacated the title and moved up to lightweight in 1998. He was stopped on a cut against Angel Manfredy and then lost two brutal fights to Ivan Robinson by decision. The first Robinson fight was named 1998 Fight of the Year by The Ring. Some people called for his retirement after losing three grueling fights in a row, but Gatti continued to fight. He moved up to junior welterweight and won four straight fights before being dominated and stopped by Oscar De La Hoya at welterweight.

Gatti engaged in a great trilogy with Micky Ward in 2002 and 2003. Ward won the first fight, and Gatti won the next two. The Ring named the first fight the 2002 Fight of the Year, and the third fight got the honor for 2003.

Gatti outpointed Gianluca Branco in 2004 to win the vacant WBC Super Lightweight Championship, becoming a two-time champion, something many felt he would never be able to accomplish. In his first title defense, Gatti knocked out undefeated former lightweight champion Leonard Dorin with a left hook to the body. He followed the Dorin fight with a knockout of former junior lightweight champion Jesse James Leija.

Gatti made his third defense against the highly-regarded Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2005. Gatti was no match for Mayweather, who completely dominated the fight until Gatti's corner stopped it after the sixth round.

After stopping undefeated Thomas Damgaard to win the lightly regarded IBA Welterweight Championship in 2006, Gatti challenged Carlos Manuel Baldomir for the WBC Welterweight Championship and was stopped in nine rounds.

Gatti retired in 2007 after being knocked out by Alfonso Gomez.

Post-career

Gatti retired with a record of 40 wins and 9 losses, with 31 wins by knockout. On September 24, 2008, reports had surfaced that Gatti was considering a comeback against Montreal welterweight Antonin Decarie (now 25-1), the Canadian and North American Boxing Organization Champion. On December 10, 2012 Arturo Gatti was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Death

On July 11, 2009, Gatti was found dead in a hotel in Ipojuca, Pernambuco, Brazil, where he was on vacation with his Brazilian wife, Amanda Rodrigues, and their 10 month old son. He was 37 years old. Gatti was to attend his sister's wedding the same day. Gatti's widow was charged with first degree murder after the strap of her purse was found stained with blood. Rodrigues could not explain how she spent more than 10 hours in the hotel room without realizing Gatti was dead. Former boxing champion Acelino Freitas, who was a close friend of Gatti, claimed Gatti and Rodrigues were having problems and were about to separate. The Brazilian authorities initially ruled Gatti's death a homicide, but after the coroner's autopsy report was released, they declared it was a suicide, and his widow was set free.