Arturo Gatti was dropped in ‘one of the best 130lb fights ever’ years before Micky Ward trilogy

Arturo Gatti was forced to pick himself off the canvas to beat Wilson Rodriguez

In 1996, six years before the first fight with Ward, a 24-1 Gatti, who was beaten by Floyd Mayweather years later, took on 44-8-3 Wilson Rodriguez in defense of his IBF super featherweight title.

The fight was a tense one and saw the champion sent down to the canvas in just the second round. Gatti, whose son was coached by Mike Tyson, was forced to compose himself and get up off the floor to continue the fight.

In the sixth round of the very closely-contested match, Gatti stopped Rodriguez with a left hook to the head. It took Rodriguez more than a minute to get off the canvas.

Gatti’s Irish rival fought in his own close fight years before their trilogy too, when Ward faced Emmanuel Augustus, who gave Floyd Mayweather his toughest test.

Arturo Gatti was trained by Micky Ward for the last fight of his career

Ward retired after his trilogy with Gatti, but his dance partner fought on and had seven more fights, including the one with Mayweather, after their 30 rounds.

In a bizarre twist of fate, Gatti, who wanted to switch trainers after his loss to Carlos Baldomir, enlisted his former rival as his trainer ahead of a clash with Alfonso Gomez.

Ward spoke on Gatti ahead of the fight: “He surprised me with how much he has left. He has a lot left. People think he doesn’t have a lot left but he does.”

Unfortunately, though an admirable team, Gatti’s appointment of Ward didn’t give his career the fairytale ending he’d hoped for, and he lost his fight to Gomez by seventh-round TKO.