No one had a “thunderous” right hook quite like “Irish” Micky Ward. Every fight he was in proved to be a battle, which made him a true warrior in the ring. A few of the fights resulted in some of the most brutal, and classic fights of all time.
Micky Ward (right) with the "thunderous" right hook on Arturo Gatti
The currently retired junior welterweight professional boxer from Lowell, Massachusetts is widely known as the protagonist in the 2010 feature film based on his career titled The Fighter, in which he is portrayed by Mark Wahlberg.
It’s great that his story of a tough life and difficult road to the top was made into a film that won a few Oscar awards, but sad that not many people knew his story, or let alone, knew who he was at all.
To make a long story short, he grew up in a tough, poverty-stricken neighborhood surrounded by drug addicts (including his half brother/personal trainer Dicky Eklund, a heavily addicted crack addict), prostitution, and you name it.
But one of the best parts about this story is that he brought all of his hardships into the ring, which resulted in Ring Magazine fights of the year in 2001, 2002, 2003. Two of those three fights were against Arturo Gatti, who won world championships designated by two different boxing boards in two different weight classes.
Ward and Gatti faced each other three times, which became known as the Ward-Gatti Trilogy. In each fight, especially the first, Gatti was the clear favorite, which Ward won. Gatti would go on to win the next two, but each went down to the wire.
Round 9 in Ward-Gatti part I is known as one of the greatest rounds in boxing history. So how could I not show it?
Just keep in mind that after each of the three fights, both fighters had to go to a trauma center to get medical attention. That is how intense and epic those fights were.
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