By Thomas Choong: Every great fighter’s career is notably documented by their performances on the biggest stage. Though Floyd Mayweather’s detractors will belay the significance of his victory over pugilistic warrior Arturo Gatti as another over-hyped mismatch, pundits of the sweet science at the time will remember just how significant this matchup was at that time 10 years ago today .
Still promoted by Top Rank at the time, “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather Jr. stood atop the pound for pound debate alongside long reigning middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins (who would lose his first bout in 12 years only three weeks later). The belt they would fight for was the WBC Super lightweight title, though few would have considered Gatti the champion of the 140 lb weight class. That distinction belonged to Ricky “Hitman” Hatton who had wrested the title from Kostya Tszyu (who had unified the WBC, WBA, and IBF belts in 2001) a mere three weeks prior. However, that did not detract from the attention that this bout garnered.
