The Curse of Boardwalk Hall

Oh it was a painful sight, Thunder going out to rain his storm on Carlos Baldomir and effecting little more than a summer shower. This Baldomir has a chin to be noted. Gatti landed a few left hooks on the Argentine in the first round that would have felled many a hippopotamus, but elicited from Baldomir not so much as a "you got me" headshake. At that point, I knew this night would end badly for the blood-and-guts king.

After getting tattooed by Baldomir's right for seven rounds, in the eighth it seemed like Gatti suddenly decided to listen to Buddy McGirt and get on his bicycle a bit, snap the jab, avoid the center of the ring. Lo and behold, he won the round, the only round I had him winning all night.

Going into the fight, conventional wisdom had it that, as the quicker fighter for perhaps the first bout of his career, Gatti would box Baldomir, establish the jab, use the ring. The very idea is hard to imagine - Arturo Gatti up on his toes, moving in and out, staying away from nuclear exchanges. This is not the Thunder that we have come to love.

The Thunder we have come to love showed up last night, and spent the majority of the evening getting his face rearranged until finally ending up on his ass. The eighth round showed me that Arturo might actually have won the bout on points had he taken the sweet science approach. But this was Boardwalk Hall, these were his blood-and-guts fans, and he is Arturo Gatti. He threw caution to the wind for the umpteenth time and paid a dear price for it. As always, he took his ass-beating like a man. Let's hope it's his last.

p.s. Looks like Paulie Malinaggi's jaw is healed.