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WORK TITLE: Intimate Warfare
WORK NOTES: with John J. Raspanti
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1953
WEBSITE:
CITY: Salinas
STATE: CA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-taylor-76582419/ * http://www.thecalifornian.com/story/sports/2017/03/09/historic-boxing-matches-detailed-new-book/98927344/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1953.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and sports journalist. Editor and publisher, www.ringsideboxingshow.com; host, Ringside Boxing Show.
WRITINGS
Also author of The Miracle Myth (novel). Contributor, www.boxing.com and www.ringtv.com.
SIDELIGHTS
Sports journalist Dennis Taylor specializes in the history of boxing. He is the author of a novel, The Miracle Myth, a collection of boxing anecdotes, A Puncher’s Chance: Amazing Tales from the Ringside Boxing Show, and the coauthor, with fellow boxing expert John J. Raspanti, of Intimate Warfare: The True Story of the Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward Boxing Trilogy.
Intimate Warfare tells the story of the trio of fights in 2002 and 2003 between American Micky Ward and Canadian Arturo Gatti, two light welterweights who earned each other’s admiration and affection even as they beat each other senseless. The two fighters “barely knew each other before they met in the first of their epic bouts–3 bouts, 30 rounds, 90 minutes–but after Ward’s win , on majority decision, they both felt a deep respect and love for each other, embraced, and agreed to a rematch before their sweat was dry,” explained Joanna Brauer on the Californian website. Later, she continued, “Gatti said, ‘I always wondered what it would be like to fight my twin: now, I know.'” After each fight both men had to be hospitalized. The coauthors “humanize the shirtless icons of pay-per-view,” wrote a Publishers Weekly reviewer, “making the bloody drama of the ring even more difficult to watch and the fighters … more admirable.”
Critics enjoyed the coauthors’ examination of the series of fights already deemed the “fights of the century.” “Taylor and Raspanti’s collaboration seems seamless because the voice of this book, itself intimate, is unified and entertaining and honest,” said Adam Berlin in Boxing. “While the two writers detail the most glorious moments in each fighter’s career, Taylor and Raspanti are at their best when riffing on boxing’s harder truths. Here they synopsize the consequential aftermath of a Ward losing streak,” which he suffered after his final loss to Gatti in the third fight. “The book flows easily and I could actually feel the pain being inflected as the fights were being described,” stated Jerry Fitch in Max Boxing. “These two men knew nothing about quitting, offering up a give and take assault for three historic battles.” “The biggest draw for that small group of special men who dare enter the ring and fight, completely, is the chance to touch immortality,” Berlin concluded. “In Intimate Warfare, Dennis Taylor and John J. Raspanti reveal, dissect, and ultimately elevate Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti, two men who became more than men when they danced together.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, October 17, 2016, review of Intimate Warfare: The True Story of the Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward Boxing Trilogy, p. 60.
ONLINE
Boxing, http://www.boxing.com/ (January 2, 2017), Adam Berlin, review of Intimate Warfare.
Californian, http://www.thecalifornian.com/ (March 9, 2017), Joanna Brauer, review of Intimate Warfare.
Max Boxing, http://www.maxboxing.com/ (August 2, 2017), Jerry Fitch, review of Intimate Warfare.*
Dennis Taylor is a professional journalist of more than 40 years. He is the editor/publisher of www.ringsideboxingshow.com and host of The Ringside Boxing Show, a worldwide Internet radio program. He has also written for www.boxing.com and www.ringtv.com. Taylor is the author of A Puncher's Chance: Amazing Tales from the Ringside Boxing Show, a nonfiction boxing book, and The Miracle Myth, a novel.
Intimate Warfare: The True Story of the Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward Boxing Trilogy
263.42 (Oct. 17, 2016): p60.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Intimate Warfare: The True Story of the Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward Boxing Trilogy
Dennis Taylor and John J. Raspanti. Rowman & Littlefield, $36 (208p) ISBN 978-1-44227305-4
Boxing writers Taylor and Raspanti track the careers of Arturo "Thunder" Gatti and "Irish" Mickey Ward, whose three-fight saga brought them pugilistic glory and million-dollar paydays at terrible physical and psychic cost. Gatti's natural ability and movie-star good looks earned him titles that his recklessness, in and out of the ring, quickly overshadowed. Ward, less talented, won acclaim for a relentless attacking style that made him a crowd favorite. Both men's careers were in decline when their first encounter riveted the fight world. Only six years after their final battle, Gatti was found dead in a Brazilian motel room, apparently a suicide. Ward, on the other hand, became a national celebrity with the film The Fighter, which was based on his tumultuous life in hardscrabble Lowell, Mass., and received seven Oscar nominations. However, no amount of financial compensation could make up for his shattered hand, blurred vision, and damaged brain. The book covers familiar terrain, and the authors eagerly embrace venerable sports cliches of manly fortitude and undaunted heroism. Despite these shortcomings, their diligent research and insider feel for the sport result in an engaging overview of two very different paths toward three of boxing's best-known fights. Raspanti and Taylor's most impressive accomplishment is to humanize the shirtless icons of pay-per-view, making the bloody drama of the ring even more difficult to watch and the fighters even more admirable. (Dec.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Intimate Warfare: The True Story of the Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward Boxing Trilogy." Publishers Weekly, 17 Oct. 2016, p. 60+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA468700057&it=r&asid=2f78026e0606a2a5306578a9d95729a4. Accessed 4 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A468700057
Historic boxing matches detailed in new book
Joanna Brauer Published 2:11 p.m. PT March 9, 2017 | Updated 2:11 p.m. PT March 9, 2017
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“Intimate Warfare: the True Story of the Arturo Gatti – Mickey Ward Boxing Trilogy” by Dennis Taylor and John A. Raspanti, published by Rowman and Littlefield, available on Amazon.
This is a stirring, engrossing story, a paean to the “Sweet Science”; a thrilling glimpse into the world of prize fighting. It features the brawlers, the cornermen, the “legendary cutmen,” the three-minute rounds with one minute’s rest in between; the refs, the training regimens, and the pugilists themselves; they “wore each other’s sweat, blood, snot, and saliva. They felt one another’s hot breath and smelled one another’s bodies in a way that even the most intimate of lovers cannot match.”
The authors, Dennis Taylor of Monterey (who frequently contributes stories to The Californian) and John A. Raspanti of San Francisco obviously have a deep knowledge and love of the sport. They are professional journalists writing for multiple boxing publications.
With a foreword by Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, extensive appendices, bibliography and a selection of photographs, the book focuses mainly on the trilogy of non-title fights between Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward, in the light-welterweight division, between May 2002 and June 2003.
Arturo Gatti, an Italian-born Canadian/Montrealer, known as “Thunder,” “Blood and Guts Warrior,” and the “Human Highlights Reel,” was a “brilliantly talented fighter from the beginning. He was handsome, chiseled, wildly popular with boxing fans, promoters and TV networks ... always worth watching.” He had great speed, was quick on his feet and a big puncher. He was also a party boy: a drinker and woman-chaser with a vibrant, attractive personality. His “machismo in the ring was legendary,” and he was known as a “great guy” outside the ring. He became a headliner on ESPN, the USA Network, and HBO.
Mickey Ward, known as “Irish Mickey,” was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. Ward was a brawler, journeyman fighter from a large, dysfunctional, blue-collar boxing family living in a tough neighborhood. He was known as a level-headed partier who usually avoided a scrap.
His older half-brother, Dicky Ecklund, had been a professional fighter as well until he destroyed himself with crack cocaine.
Mickey’s rise to boxing fame, and his family, have been portrayed in the movie “The Fighter” – a movie that Ward himself described as fairly accurate.
Ward and Gatti barely knew each other before they met in the first of their epic bouts – 3 bouts, 30 rounds, 90 minutes – but after Ward’s win , on majority decision, they both felt a deep respect and love for each other, embraced, and agreed to a rematch before their sweat was dry.
After that first fight, Gatti said, “I always wondered what it would be like to fight my twin: now, I know.”
Though different personalities and Ward’s 7-year age advantage, they were physically perfectly matched: 5’8”, 142 lbs, 70” reach.
Both displayed such “heart,” endurance, toughness, ability to absorb punishment. Their three fights were revered by boxing fans as the most spectacular, violent fights ever seen. The spectators screamed and gave standing ovations. The commentators gushed and the boxing world gasped.
Ward lost the last two bouts, both by unanimous decision. They fought with blood streaming down, bones broken, and eyes swollen shut. Two of the bouts were deemed “Fight of the Year” by Ring Magazine and one was deemed among the Top Ten of the Decade by HBO.
Ward, aged 36, retired after the last bout. He and Gatti became firm friends from then on.
Several years later, Ward assisted in Gatti’s training for his last fight, at age 35. He lost to a heavier opponent.
Gatti, after embracing Ward, then retired, and married a Brazilian beauty. Financially secure, once out of the ring, he began to drink heavily and brawl at will.
Gatti died 2 years later in mysterious circumstances. He probably hanged himself with his wife’s purse strap after heavily ingesting alcohol and drugs. He was 37. Ward was a pall-bearer at the funeral. Many friends and family members do not believe Gatti would commit suicide, but the death occurred in Brazil where the authorities were unable to find concrete evidence against his wife, so the mystery remains.
Ward still lives in Lowell, Mass, where he owns a gym.
This is a terrific read for any sports fan. The epic trilogy fights can be found on the Internet. They are just breathtaking.
Joanna Brauer lives in Salinas and is an avid reader of many genres. If you wish to submit a book for review, send a copy to: Joe Truskot/The Salinas Californian, 123 W. Alisal Street, Salinas, CA 93901.
Book Review: “Intimate Warfare: The True Story of the Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward Boxing Trilogy”
By Adam Berlin on January 2, 2017
Book Review: “Intimate Warfare: The True Story of the Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward Boxing Trilogy”
“Intimate Warfare” reveals, dissects, and ultimately elevates Ward and Gatti. (Mike Orduña)
Like the protagonists in Greek tragedies, Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward looked into each other’s eyes. Then they looked into the abyss…
Intimate Warfare by Dennis Taylor and John J. Raspanti chronicles one of boxing’s historic trilogies, the three-fight drama that starred Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward. In a short thirteen-month period, between May 2002 and June 2003, two professional fighters displayed everything that’s brutal and beautiful about boxing, the core of a sport that’s more than sport. The book’s title not only frames the narrative but provides its thematic foundation: Intimate because after thirty rounds Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward knew each other so well they could identify each other’s breath and sweat and spit; Warfare because after three violent acts Ward and Gatti could recognize each other’s brave hearts. Writers Taylor and Raspanti tell the true story of the Gatti/Ward trilogy with the insight of witnesses who know boxing.
Intimate Warfare’s early chapters alternate between Ward and Gatti, filling in the backstories of these two very different men. Micky Ward came from a large, rough-edged family. Quieter than his siblings, Ward still carried a big stick when he had to, earning his street cred in the bars of Lowell, “a depressed, blue-collar Boston suburb whose streets were filthy with drug dealers, drunks, thugs and prostitutes.” Micky followed older brother Dicky into the gym (Dicky’s hard life was made Hollywood-famous by Christian Bale in The Fighter), and while Micky may not have had the natural talent of his older sibling, he surpassed Dicky in discipline, working hard, pushing through pain (including broken bones and a construction accident befitting “a villain who loses a fight with James Bond”), and building a respectable career well before he met Arturo Gatti.
Gatti’s backstory was less hard-knocks. Born in Italy, raised in Montreal, Arturo was a natural athlete who played many sports and boxed, mainly, for the joy of competition. When his father died in a work accident and the family moved to Jersey City, Arturo started boxing seriously. Like Ward, he followed his older brother into the fight game. Unlike Ward, Gatti was a genuine, natural talent, whose work ethic sometimes waned. Perhaps Gatti’s greatest attribute was his super-human grit. Taylor and Raspanti put us ringside as they recall a brutal fourth round between Gatti and former super-featherweight champ Gabriel Ruelas:
…Ruelas hurt the champion badly and reeled off a string of 17 unanswered punches, beginning with a mammoth left uppercut with less than a minute left, followed immediately by a hard right to Gatti’s beltline. How Gatti made it to the bell that round became part of his enduring lore. He not only persevered, but also inexplicably landed a few big shots of his own just before the end of the round.
Gatti’s trademark resilience was the reason he co-starred in a total of four The Ring “Fights of the Year.”
Ward’s rise through the ranks was rougher than Gatti’s. He didn’t win the big belts. He didn’t make the big money. But like the workhorse he was, Micky kept exceeding expectations. Perhaps his personality was best personified by his signature punch, a left hook to the body (aimed at the liver) that put many men down. Body blows are not the stuff of Hollywood, which prefers eye-catching head shots that send dramatic sweat-sprays into the lights. But Ward got the job done, lunch-pail in hand. In the Gatti/Ward duo, Arturo was the leading man. His good looks, million-dollar smile, and all-out style, made more cinematic by his ability to take unnatural punishment and come back from adversity, often with a spectacular KO, made his rise quicker, easier, more lucrative.
As the book progresses, Taylor and Raspanti replace their wide lens with a narrow lens, zooming in on each fighter’s boxing career, detailing their fights with precision. And as the famous fight trilogy approaches, the road that brings Gatti and Ward together seems to become increasingly inevitable, as if this match-up were fated, orchestrated by the boxing deities, not mortal (and mortally-flawed) promoters. By the time we get to the first Gatti/Ward fight, that is, by the time Taylor and Raspanti bring us into the ring at the Mohegan Sun Casino, we know these two opponents very well. By the time the final bell sounds for the last round of their third fight in Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, we know them even better.
Taylor and Raspanti’s collaboration seems seamless because the voice of this book, itself intimate, is unified and entertaining and honest. While the two writers detail the most glorious moments in each fighter’s career, Taylor and Raspanti are at their best when riffing on boxing’s harder truths. Here they synopsize the consequential aftermath of a Ward losing streak:
He was on a four-fight skid—albeit against strong opponents—and his phone no longer was ringing. Any cache he once had among promoters and matchmakers had evaporated into a fog of mediocrity. Fighters turn professional with dreams of someday cashing in on their hard work. Promoters enter the sport with the same idea—cashing in on the boxer’s hard work. If that boxer no longer has audience appeal, he might as well be a dirty Kleenex.
And here they describe the almost-inevitable allure for retired, aging fighters to resurrect their careers:
The money and fame evaporate. Those legions of “friends” dwindle. The bright light grows dim. Life becomes bleak and cold when the once-glaring spotlight begins to flicker. Depression often sets in. And, inevitably, a predictable thing happens: Old injuries begin to feel better. A tired body becomes rested. The bills stack up, and the hunger returns. And the fighter begins to believe—almost always erroneously—that he’s got two or three good fights left in his aging body and that some unworthy young chump is wearing his old championship belt.
To his credit, once Ward retired, a retirement that began when the final bell of the final fight with Gatti tolled, Ward stayed retired. Gatti, almost seven years Ward’s junior, had more fight left in him, and another successful title run, but when it came time for The Human Highlight Reel, as Gatti was known, to hang up the gloves, it was not so easy. His final fight against mediocre Alfonso Gomez, a fight Gatti lost by TKO, showed how far Thunder Gatti had fallen. And the subsequent nights of hard drinking and hard partying, which no doubt offered Arturo beer-muscled glimpses of his former mighty self, highlighted the difficulties of retirement from an all-consuming vocation that runs out “when most folks are hitting their professional stride.”
I was fortunate enough to see, live, the third fight of the Gatti/Ward trilogy. And I was fortunate enough to see, also live, Gatti’s first title-winning fight with Tracy Harris Patterson in Madison Square Garden. And I even saw Gatti fight, live, in only his eleventh pro bout, a first-round knockout victory that took place in a Ramada Hotel ballroom in Manhattan. Despite the over-matched opponent he beat, and despite the amateurish venue, I remember admiring the kid with the quick hands and quick feet who looked like he could punch. He looked like a contender. He became a champion. If, by some sleight of time, I’d been able to read Intimate Warfare before I saw my own personal trilogy of Gatti fights, my appreciation of a rising Gatti, and of the epic third installment of the Gatti/Ward war, would have been more layered, more complete, and so more fulfilling. That marks Intimate Warfare as the real deal.
Greek tragedies start with a prologue, which sets up the play about to follow. The first line in this book’s prologue reads, “The end. Such a sad place for a story to begin.” The end for Arturo Gatti was indeed sad—found dead after a fight with his wife, the bloody, ripped strap of her purse a few feet from his body, Gatti’s death was officially ruled a suicide, a ruling few believe. For Ward, the sad end is less dramatic. He suffered the slings and arrows that come with a life in the ring. But like the protagonists in Greek tragedies, which belong to heroes, Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward achieved heroic status and solidified their names in boxing lore through three fights. They looked into each other’s eyes. Then they looked into the abyss. And they kept fighting. Money. Fame. That’s part of boxing’s allure, and part of what drives men to lace up the gloves. But the biggest draw for that small group of special men who dare enter the ring and fight, completely, is the chance to touch immortality. In Intimate Warfare, Dennis Taylor and John J. Raspanti reveal, dissect, and ultimately elevate Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti, two men who became more than men when they danced together.
Adam Berlin is the author of four novels, most recently the boxing novel Both Members of the Club (Texas Review Press/winner of the Clay Reynolds Novella Prize). He teaches writing at John Jay College/CUNY. For more, please visit adamberlin.com.
Review of Intimate Warfare: The True Story of The Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward Boxing Trilogy
Intimate Warfare
Intimate Warfare
By Jerry Fitch
Many fans, perhaps even those not avid boxing fans are probably familiar with the name Micky Ward if for no other reason than because they saw the movie “The Fighter”, starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale.
I was asked to review this new book on the boxing trilogy of Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti titled “Intimate Warfare”, written by Dennis Taylor and John Raspanti. As a boxing historian and author myself when warranted I tend to be as critical of others writings as I do my own. However I cannot offer up any negative comments about this outstanding effort by Dennis and John. You learn about Micky and you get to know Arturo Gatti and their troubled lives both in and out of the ring.
This book captured my attention in so many ways. Once I started it I found it hard to put down. I felt like I was sitting ringside watching these two gallant warriors. As mentioned in the book these two fighters are not considered great by many and between them had twenty-two losses dotting their records. But it can be said that they were champions far beyond the titles won in the ring or their records when it came to their three head -to -head meetings during 2002-2003.
The two authors obviously did their homework when writing about this trilogy. But far beyond facts and figures they captured the personal intimate relationship these two men had. They respected each other in and out of the ring. Ward and Gatti were unique in that way, far beyond what most athletes ever feel for each other.
The book flows easily and I could actually feel the pain being inflected as the fights were being described. These two men knew nothing about quitting, offering up a give and take assault for three historic battles. Even when they tried to box they eventually fell back into their blue collar all out ways that left them both battered and scarred for life. Perhaps not since the days of Tony Zale-Rocky Graziano in the late 40s have two fighters left such a lasting legacy in ring combat due to the violent nature of their three bouts.
After their ring days were over the two men remained friends.The tragic death of Arturo Gatti in 2009 left a lasting impact on Micky Ward and also a lot of unanswered questions for those who knew and loved Gatti.
Any boxing fan will love reading this book. It is a gem!
Jerry Fitch is the author of Johnny Risko: The Cleveland Rubber Man, Cleveland’s Greatest Fighters of All Time (Images of Sports) and James Louis Bivins: The Man Who Would Be Champion.
To purchase a signed copy of any of Jerry’s books, please email him
at Jerryfitch1946@gmail.com.