For those of you who, like myself, somehow missed it in 2016 when it was released, there is a great new book out on the simply unforgettable three-fight rivalry warriors Aturo Gatti and Micky Ward engaged in back in 2002/2003, that just has to be read. If you didn’t get a copy – released as it was just before Christmas – and you care anything for the Gatti-Ward fights, then “Intimate Warfare: The true story of the Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward trilogy” is a must.
The reviews have all been excellent and the book – written by Dennis Taylor and John J. Raspanti – covers the fascinating careers of both sluggers, while the scintillating action contained within the three super-fights is given fitting tribute. Indeed, with this kind of subject matter, the book simply could not fail. Of course, Ward was given the Silver Screen treatment in the fabulous film, “The Fighter,” and now both gladiators get the star treatment in this new book.
The Gatti-Ward trilogy, fought from May of 2002 to June of the following year, really did have everything: broken bones, a busted eardrum, a “Round of The Century,” relentless trading and constantly switching momentums, blood and plenty of guts and, after it was all over, respect – with respect between the two fighters being huge and respect from the entire boxing world dutifully pouring in.
The last great boxing trilogy, Gatti-Ward, with no title on the line in either fight, gave us everything that is great about the sport of boxing. The two men became good friends, this friendship lasting until Gatti’s sad and untimely death in July of 2009, and today it is impossible to think of Ward without thinking of Gatti, and the other way around.
There have been plenty of new boxing books released recently, and a number of them are more than worth a read. But as special as Gatti-Ward was/is, “Intimate Warfare” just might be the essential boxing read of 2016 (or 2017 if you have yet to get hold of a copy).