4 months ago
Micky Ward on Arturo Gatti: We Took Everything From Each Other
WBN spoke to Micky Ward exclusively from his home in Lowell. For Ward, the Gatti trilogy will forever define his name in boxing history — but if you ask him directly, he’s quick to remind you that those three wars were just part of a far bigger story.
Two decades later, Ward reflects on the nights that shaped him, the toll they took, and the moment he realized his closest rival was fighting longer than he should have.
Those unforgettable meetings with Arturo Gatti between 2002 and 2003 became instant classics, with Ward taking the first — and most revered — fight of the trilogy. Yet when Ward talks about the most brutal fights of his life, he doesn’t hesitate to widen the frame.
His Legendary Fights: Ward on Gatti & Augustus
“No, it doesn’t bother me,” Ward says of the trilogy’s towering status. “I mean, it’s expected because those are my three best fights of my career. Well, actually, I had just as tough a fight with Emanuel Augustus. I had a fight of the year with him and then two with Gatti. He was powerful, but the Gatti fights were just back-and-forth; they were tough. He took everything I had, and I took everything he had.”
Even now, the intensity of those nights sits at the center of Ward’s legacy. Those encounters are etched in boxing history, but Ward himself doesn’t dwell on them.
“Now and again, yes,” he admits when asked if he watches the fights back. “But I don’t watch them that much now. I’m not like that. I don’t really watch my fights much.”
Gatti’s Last Run
The years since have shifted his perspective. Ward retired after the third Gatti meeting, a decision he has always stood by. But the man in the opposite corner continued, and Ward saw the decline up close. Their rivalry evolved into friendship, and eventually, Ward even stepped into the role of trainer for Gatti’s final run.
“Yes, he did carry on a bit too long,” Ward recalls. “When I was training him for his last fight, he trained well, but when he got in the ring, he was like a different guy.
“He got in the ring, and he got old. Gatti was ten years younger than me. He probably should have stopped fighting after Floyd Mayweather, but obviously he is a fighter and wants to keep going — and that’s what happens.”
Ward speaks without judgment, but with the understanding of a man who recognized the signs instantly. He had made peace with retiring. Gatti had not — and Ward watched the cost catch up to him. “I saw it right there in front of me,” he says. “It’s what fighters do. But sometimes it goes too far.”
Micky Ward on Modern Boxing and Its Changing Grit
Now in 2025, Ward remains active in the sport, but from a very different vantage point.
He stays close to boxing not for personal glory, but to pass down experiences the next generation rarely hears firsthand.
“Oh yes, I still watch boxing,” he says. “I help my nephew at his boxing gym.
“There is professional boxing going on in Lowell. There are still a lot of good fighters, but there is not the same grit. You know, like naturally tough, born fighters. It’s just different now.”
That contrast — the old grit versus the modern landscape — is at the core of Ward’s reflections. He fought in an era defined by determination.
Today’s fighters operate in a world of sports science, polished amateur systems, and more intelligent matchmaking. Ward doesn’t dismiss it; he simply knows the difference.
Legacy of the Gatti Trilogy: Ward Reflects
Yet the Gatti trilogy remains a reference point for everything he sees today. Ward retired with his health mostly intact because he understood the moment to stop. Gatti, driven by the same fire that made him beloved, pushed further than his body wanted to go.
Two careers forever intertwined — one ending by choice, the other with a cost Ward still remembers vividly. More than twenty years later, the trilogy still echoes through boxing, but Ward moves forward firmly despite long-term ailments stemming from the Gatti saga and his career. He coaches, he watches, he still loves the sport.
“He took everything I had, and I took everything he had.”
The lessons from that war now shape the fighters Micky Ward coaches today.
About the Author
Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN), a veteran boxing reporter with 15+ years’ experience. He has interviewed dozens of world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside at the sport’s most significant events since founding WBN in 2010. Read full bio.
Micky Ward on Arturo Gatti: We Took Everything From Each Other https://www.worldbox #GattiWard #MickyWard #boxing #LegendaryNights
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