Micky Ward reveals what Arturo Gatti said to him in the hospital after their fight of the century

Micky Ward admired Arturo Gatti after exchanging words in hospital room

Years after their trilogy, Ward remembered sharing a hospital room with Gatti following their fight.

He said: “[The doctor] had slid the curtain open and said ‘I think somebody wants to say hi to you.'”

He tells of his admiration for Gatti, who also fought Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya, after they spoke in hospital:

“First words out of his mouth it ain’t like, it wasn’t no ‘good fight’ or this or that, the first thing out of his mouth was ‘Mick you okay?’ First thing.”

Ward and Gatti had a lot of respect for one another after their three encounters, with Ward even going on to train Gatti for his final fight, though he was unsuccessful in winning it.

Boxing is fraught with tales of compassion, such as when Emanuel Augustus refused to hit Ray Oliveira’s head, despite everything coming toward him, after he witnessed Oliveira clutch his neck in pain. Augustus knew there was more at stake than a win or a loss, and it seems Gatti and Ward also knew that.

Their fights transcended numbers on a record and turned into a brotherhood amongst fighters. Gatti tragically passed away due to suicide in 2009, and, in testament to their respect for one another, Ward delivered a eulogy at Gatti’s funeral.

According to The Bleacher Report, Ward tapped his rival-turned-friend’s coffin with a left hand and said: “I got you last.”

Ward also gave a speech as Gatti was posthumously inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame.

Mike Tyson was seen coaching Arturo Gatti’s son on social media, leading many to praise the late boxing legend, showing his memory lives on.

Commentator tells of how Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti traded so much more than punches

Speaking on the trilogy to Boxing News, former commentator Jim Lampley had some poetic words on the classic trilogy:

“When you watch two fighters, think Arturo and Micky, seemingly try to kill each other for twelve rounds, and then the bell rings at the end of the twelfth and they fall into each other’s arms, that’s because, at that moment, they are in love, and, they are in love partially with the fact that they know more about each other now than their mothers know.”

Lampley concluded: “They share something that’s so intense and so secret that it’s theirs and only theirs.”

He recalls seeing Gatti’s manager following the first fight, upset over the result, and how he said to him:

“There are always two winners when people fight that passionately, that beautifully, that violently, that heart-breakingly, and they did.”