HBO Special: Ward vs Gotti (1-3)

[H2O Man]

HBO is playing the three Arturo Gotti versus Micky Ward fights tonight. They started at 9 pm est. HBOw will repeat them at midnight.

For two years in a row, these two warriors' fights were The Ring's "Fight of the Year." The 9th round of the first fight was, in Manny Steward's opinion, a contender for "Round of the Century."

If you have a chance, watch the show. The fights were as brutal as the best of the 1940s and '50s.

Enjoy the show. And thanks, HBO.

[H2O Man]

1. The program

is being repeated today. My favorite of the three fights is the first one. Of course, as I always was impressed with Micky Ward, and didn't really like Gotti, it is no surprise that I'd like the one that Micky won. Overall, most of the boxing community views that as the most intensely fought of the trilogy. Still, while the second fight was relatively "tame" (in the same sense that Ali v Frazier II was), the third was perhaps the most destructive. Gotti broke his hand, but nothing could stop the guy. And after the fight, Ward couldn't focus his eyes; it turned out that his brain had literally been shifted inside of his skull. Obviously, he could have died, and required a lot of medical treatment.

Ward was already prepared to retire before the fight. Gotti kept fighting, though he wasn't the same after their series. Interesting character. Too bad that he hooked up with the trash he meet in an "exotic" nighclub. Life in the fast lane holds risks.