Going into the fight that took place 12 years ago today, there were plenty of fight fans bracing themselves for a great fight, a competitive fight. Instead, what we saw when Floyd Mayweather Junior challenged Arturo Gatti for his WBC 140-pound belt was a massacre.
Boxing his pay-per-view debut, Mayweather, aged 28, sporting a 33-0 record and at his blinding peak, dismantled the hugely popular Gatti in every which way. Gatti, who had gone beyond the call in his three wars with Mickey Ward, convinced his fans, most of them anyway, that he would be too rough, tough and hungry for Mayweather. Instead, Mayweather fought one of his most aggressive, ruthless and nasty fights.