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Arturo Gatti takes on Joey Gamache in a Junior Welterweight fight on HBO Boxing
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00:00Five months ago, Oscar De La Hoya faced Felix Trinidad in a long-awaited mega match-up
00:08billed as the fight of the millennium, a boxing fan's dream, and ultimately delivered little
00:14except anti-climax and controversy.
00:17I wanted to demonstrate a boxing lesson.
00:21Oscar's aim going into the fight was to showcase his boxing skills and take away Trinidad's
00:25confidence, a plan that worked brilliantly for the first seven rounds.
00:29Superior movement in the first three rounds for Oscar De La Hoya.
00:33Up a good glance for De La Hoya.
00:35Big round here for Oscar.
00:37Outglass is too big a word for what's happening here.
00:41My state of mind was inside that fight.
00:43I was in awe of myself.
00:45But going into the later rounds, De La Hoya stopped fighting to win and instead tried not
00:50to lose.
00:51In contrast to his courageous finish against Ike Quarté, Oscar decided to run from a desperate
00:56Trinidad.
00:57Oscar is just running now.
00:59Now he's not fighting back at all so far.
01:01And De La Hoya's big march and in the early rounds of the fight seems to be evaporating
01:05now.
01:08Felix Tranda did not beat me.
01:10Then, the surprising decision.
01:12Winner by majority decision, de Puerto Rico!
01:16For the first time, De La Hoya had lost and lost by decision in Las Vegas, which some thought
01:22unlikely.
01:23His strategy backfired and there was no one but himself to blame.
01:27Of course, I was in shock because it was my first loss in so many years, but after that, I said, hey, I'm going to enjoy this.
01:35I feel like a champ still.
01:37A rematch with Trinidad seems sure to follow, but the business of boxing has again turned
01:42up a wild card.
01:43De La Hoya fills his dance card with tonight's opponent, top welterweight contender, Darryl Coley.
01:48From now on, every single fight I have, it's an aggressive Oscar.
01:53No more judges.
01:54That's the way I'm going to see it.
01:56Back at the legendary Madison Square Garden, Oscar De La Hoya hopes to learn from his own
02:01boxing lesson and regain the golden touch of ring dominance.
02:18I'll see you next time.
02:48Tonight, live from Madison Square Garden, it's the return of Oscar De La Hoya.
03:06Six months after his upsetting defeat at the hands of Felix Trinidad, De La Hoya is back
03:10in the ring tonight, taking on Darryl Coley.
03:13Also tonight, expect a possible war as Arturo Gatti, at 141 pounds, takes on another veteran
03:21fighter, Joey Gamache.
03:23If Oscar De La Hoya wanted to hide after hearing the judge's decision in his fight against Felix
03:27Trinidad, he certainly has not acted that way.
03:30He has acted.
03:31He has sung.
03:33He has made videos.
03:34He has been out in public.
03:35And now Oscar performs on the big stage in Madison Square Garden, arguably the most famous
03:42venue in boxing.
03:45And hello again, everybody.
03:47I'm Jim Lampley.
03:47We welcome you to this special edition of HBO's World Championship Boxing, taking place
03:52as it does in the midst of a tense weekend here in New York, when the streets in Midtown
03:57Manhattan and throughout the city are lined with blue uniform New York City policemen hoping
04:02to head off any possible disturbance in the wake of the controversial acquittal yesterday
04:06of policemen who had been charged in a heavily publicized shooting of a civilian in the Bronx.
04:13As that takes place, perhaps it limits some of the walk-up crowd for this fight here at
04:18Madison Square Garden.
04:19But nevertheless, there's a representative turnout in the building, reflective of Oscar De La
04:24Hoya's continued drawing power, even in the wake of his loss, the first of his career
04:28last September to Felix Trinidad.
04:30Here with us, as always, as we get ready to watch the fights, the two of them on the
04:34card, HBO Boxing analyst Larry Merchant.
04:36Larry, pretty decent-sized crowd here in Madison Square Garden.
04:41Continued ink in the New York papers about De La Hoya, both pro and con.
04:45All of these things indicators that Oscar is or can be just as big as ever.
04:51Fans always want to see what a fallen idol does next, Jim, even if he happened to trip himself
05:00up.
05:01And if De La Hoya can come back strongly, win a few fights dramatically, he could be bigger
05:07than ever.
05:08But let's relate that to the holy war, that epic fight of a week ago between Morales and
05:15Barrera, over which my heart is still palpitating.
05:19An hour after the ceasefire, Barrera's face was all stitched up, and Morales' face looked
05:27as though it had been chewed on by an angry leopard, and his ribs must have felt the way
05:34his face looked.
05:36So the question for Oscar De La Hoya is this.
05:39Is he willing to suffer that much for his real art?
05:46We may not find out the answer tonight, Jim, but we will down the road.
05:51Well, if that's the question, of course, he can take a lesson in suffering from his predecessor
05:55in the preliminary bout, the most suffering fighter of all in the ring today, Arturo Gatti,
06:00a man who, over the course of the past two years, lost three consecutive fights here
06:05on HBO, but lost none of his stature as one of the world's most exciting fighters.
06:09Now you'll watch Gatti as he tries to continue on the comeback trail, one victory already under
06:14his belt.
06:15He looks for another against a 55-win veteran, Joey Gamache, and here to watch that with us
06:20is HBO boxing expert, two-time world heavyweight champion George Foreman, and George, Oscar
06:26De La Hoya talks about wanting to be more aggressive tonight.
06:29It is Gatti who says the opposite, that he would like to go back to more of a boxing
06:33style as he takes on Gamache.
06:35Given what we've seen from Arturo, is it even possible that he could make that adjustment?
06:39I don't know about the possibility, but it sure would be applauded if he tries.
06:43The old saying, he should take a break today, we would all applaud him boxing and moving.
06:48This guy is giving a lot, and if we're going to keep him around to give some more, he should
06:52box tonight.
06:53Absolutely, because the most frequent ringside comment at Gatti's previous fights is,
06:56woof, the guy's got a short career coming.
06:59Let's see if he can lengthen it tonight against Gamache, and here's the tale of the tape for
07:02the fight in which they agreed to weigh in at 141 pounds, one over the 140-pound limit.
07:08You can see that Gatti hit the scales at 141, although Gamache's people thought maybe he
07:12got a little help with the scale, and astonishingly, Gatti has put on 19 pounds in the 27 hours since
07:19the weigh-in yesterday.
07:20He'll enter the ring at 160 to only 146 for Joey Gamache, and Larry, therein lies one of
07:28the discrepancies of the modern sport.
07:30But also an indication that Gatti had dehydrated too much in the recent days and rehydrated too
07:38much over the last day plus.
07:41Punched at numbers, Larry.
07:43The key numbers here are Gatti's defensive numbers.
07:49He gets hit a lot.
07:51He eats leather the way some people eat French fries, and that makes him vulnerable to a pretty
07:58good fighter, Joey Gamache.
08:00And rules it about with our unofficial ringside scorer, Harold Letterman.
08:04The Arturo Gatti-Joey Gamache fight is scheduled for 10 rounds, non-title, using the rules of
08:10the New York State Athletic Commission, and they're a little different, so listen up.
08:14The standing eight count is in effect.
08:17The three knockdown rule is in effect.
08:19Conduct the order if we can stop the fight, and you cannot be saved by the bell in any
08:23round, including the 10th and final round.
08:26Jim.
08:28All right, Harold, thank you very much.
08:30And here's a look at the veteran from Maine, Joey Gamache.
08:34Two wins, two losses, as you see, in championship fights.
08:36Fifty-five victories, as I mentioned, and Gamache points to the three losses on his record.
08:42The fighters, Julio Cesar Chavez, Gusti Nazaroff, and Hector Lopez, and he says, hey, if you
08:49put those three losses on Gatti's record, they wouldn't look at all out of place.
08:52By that reasoning, he states and seems to believe that he should have a good chance to
08:57win the fight tonight.
08:58Let's see if he can fight as well as he talks about it.
09:02But although he's just 33 years old, Jim, he has a 16-year-old son who is an amateur middle
09:10weight, runs in the family, a grandfather who is a fighter as well.
09:15And in contrast to his opponent, a young 33 with no bad habits.
09:20The record, once again, 55 wins, three losses, the 38 knockouts, mostly against relatively
09:27anonymous opposition.
09:29He's won 10 straight and went directly to an HBO senior vice president to ask for this
09:34fight.
09:35That's what got him into position here.
09:36The performance that Arturo Gatti would like to mimic tonight is one he produced nearly
09:47five years ago here in Madison Square Garden when he took the first title he won from Tracy
09:53Harris Patterson, and in doing so, showed off his style at that time as a boxer puncher.
10:01Since then, he's become known as a brawler, and that's the pattern he'd like to reverse.
10:07The reason being that bigger, better fighters have busted him open early in fights, making
10:14him fight from desperation.
10:17But boy, nobody ever fought better from desperation.
10:22Gatti now back under the wing of the trainer who brought him to prominence, Hector Rocha.
10:27He says he believes that he doesn't get by with as much extracurricular fun training for
10:33Rocha, as was the case for the main events team that trained him for a period of time.
10:38Lou Duva, Ronnie Shields, Roger Bloodworth, and their group.
10:41Arturo Gatti, one win, three losses in his last four fights.
10:4430 wins, four losses.
10:46Overall, 25 KOs for a 140-pound fighter.
10:50He's a big puncher.
10:51And since he enters the ring weighing 160, he ought to be.
10:55While you're watching the fight tonight, also log on to HBO.com slash boxing, where you'll
10:59be able to score each round, chat with other boxing fans, and answer the question.
11:03Tonight's question, will Oscar De La Hoya rise back to the top of the welterweight division?
11:09Offer us your answer on that one, and then after tonight's fight, log on to chat all night
11:13with our boxing expert, Steve Farhood, at www.hbo.com slash boxing.
11:19Now let's go into the ring for Michael Buffer and the official introductions.
11:24Ladies and gentlemen, good evening, and welcome to the mecca of boxing.
11:29Madison Square Garden, New York City, where tonight, Bob Arum's top rank incorporated,
11:34along with your undisputed, undefeated king of beers, Budweiser.
11:38Budweiser, proud to be your bud, present HBO World Championship Boxing, sanctioned by
11:44the New York State Athletic Commission Chairman Mel Southerd.
11:48The three judges scoring this bout, assigned to ringside, they'll be scoring it on a 10-point
11:53bus system.
11:53They are Don Ackerman, Ron McNair, and Luis Rivera.
11:59And when the bell rings, your referee in charge of the action, Benjamin Estevez.
12:03And now the co-feature of the evening, this bout presented by top rank in association with
12:08main events, 10 rounds of boxing in the junior welterweight division.
12:17Introducing first, fighting out of the blue corner, wearing black, trimmed with silver,
12:23and wearing in at an even 140 pounds.
12:25His professional record, an outstanding 55 victories, 38 knockouts to his credit, with
12:33only three losses.
12:34He comes to us from Queens, New York.
12:37Ladies and gentlemen, here is the three-time world champion, Joey...
12:44And his opponent across the ring, fighting out of the red corner, wearing white, trimmed
12:54with blue, and weighing 141 pounds.
12:57His professional record, also outstanding, 30 victories, including 25 by knockout, with
13:04four losses.
13:06Fighting out of Jersey City, New Jersey, presenting the former junior lightweight champion of the
13:11world, Arturo Thunder Gahe.
13:32Okay, man, I'm going to repeat my instructions.
13:34I want you to give me a nice clean mat, protect yourself at all times, obey my command at all
13:38times.
13:38Touch up, and good luck to both of you.
13:42Arturo Gahe says, confidently, I'm going to win my next 20 fights in a row.
13:50He's got an opponent who can make it difficult for him to win one in a row.
14:04Gahe looked absolutely starched to the bone yesterday.
14:07It's a different look because he gets into the ring tonight with 19 pounds of hydration
14:11having been put into his body.
14:14Gahe says Gahe's lifestyle, the way he trains, the way he brings himself to a fight, must catch
14:20up to him as his career goes on.
14:22He says, hey, I may be older, but I know that I've taken better care of myself than Arturo
14:27and Arturo has.
14:28Gahe is starting out with a good jab, trying to find the range, because Gahe is making certain
14:38that he keeps the distance for a few rounds.
14:40Dimash sneaks in a left hook counter, and Gahe fires a right hand and a wide left to the
14:46body.
14:47The barometer on Gahe's commitment to going back to a boxing style will be, how long is
14:53it before he dispenses with the jab?
14:55Because in his most exciting fights, Arturo has wasted very little time in getting into
15:00a toe-to-toe position, squaring his shoulders up and just trading shots with his opponents.
15:04But here you see Gahe doubling up on the jab, sticking it again.
15:18Gahe's trying to pick his spots, and Fleury, when Gahe stops punching, there's a solid right
15:23hand lead down the pipe by Gahe.
15:26Gahe says, he's ahead on the experience.
15:29He's been around for a long time, so he's not going to be intimidated by the moment.
15:33If you're going to beat him, you're going to have to physically beat him up.
15:38I'll tell you how long, George.
15:40In 1978, as a 12-year-old amateur, he fought on a card with Marvin Ashler, who was fighting
15:46professionally.
15:49Well, and we haven't even mentioned that Gahe was born and raised in Lewiston, Maine, a
15:55name with its own colorful place in boxing history.
15:58And there's a knockdown by Gahe as he puts Gahe across the bottom row with a minute.
16:03Gahe still to go in the first.
16:04Five, six, seven, hey, stop to me, stop to me.
16:10And Thunder Gahe closes in, hoping to finish, and Gahe lands a blistering left hook.
16:16The left hook by Gahe momentarily stopped Gahe in his tracks.
16:21He's trying to pull a Gahe.
16:24Oh, there's a big left hook by Gahe.
16:26And the body punch set it up.
16:28And Joey Gamaz looks very wobbly now with 30 seconds still to go in the round.
16:34Three knockdown rule is in effect in New York State.
16:38One more knockdown, and this will be over.
16:40Hold on.
16:41You better hold on.
16:42Gamaz punching back, but giving Gahe a chance to land.
16:50Gamaz almost went down.
16:52That would have been the end of it.
16:54And now, Gahe's glove touches the canvas.
16:57But as David Fruz is a slip, not a knockdown, looks like Gamaz is going to make it out of
17:01the round.
17:02And Gahe landed one more left hook for good measure well after the bell sounded.
17:12And Gamaz staggers toward the wrong corner.
17:17And Gahe gets warned by the referee.
17:21Bernard, how you feel, champ?
17:23Good.
17:23Do you know where you're at?
17:24Yeah.
17:25Huh?
17:26You know where you're at?
17:27All right.
17:28You know where you're at?
17:29Go ahead.
17:30The Gahe fight.
17:31Set it up.
17:37Set it up.
17:38Remember.
17:39Okay?
17:40Don't go crazy.
17:41Keep using your job.
17:43You get a chance to be asked.
17:45There's a first knockdown.
17:47This long right hand as Gahe moves backward, hitting him oddly on the right side of his face
17:55as he turned away.
17:56Still the first knockdown.
17:57This is usually the kind of action we see from Gahe in the last round of a fight, not the
18:05first round.
18:07And when the doctor asked Gamaz if he knew where he was, he said, I'm in the garden.
18:11It's a Gahe fight.
18:13Those were the right answers.
18:14Good enough to keep Gamaz in the fight for the second round.
18:17Round one was huge for Gahe.
18:1936 out of 73, 26 out of 43 power shots, several damaging left hooks.
18:26This night is because of the reach.
18:31Gahe is able to land his right hands from a distance.
18:34Even the hook is for Richie.
18:38He's also looked so much bigger than he does.
18:41Yeah.
18:41And he's got a 15-pound weight advantage.
18:43Every time he lands a shot, it's abundantly clear.
18:46And Benji Estevez isn't going to bother with a count here as Gamaz's eyes were closed before
18:53he hit the canvas.
18:55This is the second time in two fights now that Gahe has come into the ring, outweighing
19:09an opponent by between 15 and 20 pounds, and has put the opponent away early.
19:14And for the second time, there is considerable concern about Gamaz because of the way he went
19:19down.
19:20His head may have hit the canvas pretty hard.
19:23And what we see from here that he's lifting his head now, this is a very good win for Arturo
19:28Gahe.
19:29The last time he fought, it was against a no-hoper, as it turned out.
19:35Gamaz is a legitimate fighter as Gahe tries to fight his way back into the picture now
19:42as a junior welterweight.
19:43Gamaz now leans back on his head.
19:47He's being talked to by a doctor, but he is hurt.
19:50Now, a lot of the boxers don't like these thick canvas, the way they got it with the
19:56padding on there, because they're not able to move and slide.
19:59But they've now made the regulations to make these things real soft.
20:03And, by the way, you saw what happened to Gamaz.
20:06He was able to hit his head, but at the same time, there was a lot of padding to make
20:10certain there's no permanent damage by it.
20:12So you're happy the padding's there when you see a guy go down the way Gamaz did.
20:15Yeah, a lot of us, we don't like it.
20:16It wears your legs out over a long period of time in the ring if you're going to move
20:19around.
20:20But if you happen to fall on your head, thank goodness.
20:23Yeah.
20:23Well, we'll show you replays here in a minute.
20:25As soon as we're relatively certain that Joey Gamaz is going to be okay.
20:31Our primary concern right now, as broadcasters, is to be certain that Gamaz is going to be
20:37able to come out of the ring in decent order.
20:39And that's what we'll be following for the next few moments.
20:42Meanwhile, medical personnel are right there.
20:45Gamaz trying perhaps a little too hard to get up on his own power.
20:49And now you wonder when they're going to bring a gurney in and do this the right way.
20:53It'll be the second time in a row, last August 14, and now again tonight, that Arturo Gatti's
20:59opponent leaves the ring with medical supervision after Gatti was allowed to come into the ring
21:04more than 24 hours after the weigh-in and weighing nearly 20 pounds more than he had
21:10at the time of weighing in.
21:11This is going to become an issue in his future fights.
21:14But as for the blueprint, George, even though it was brief, Gatti boxed early, and that set
21:19up the opportunity for him to do damage.
21:21Yeah, he actually caught him on the end of a lot of shots.
21:23And that's where it really hurts, when you get caught on the end of these shots.
21:26Like a boxer, he did good damage, but at the same time, he didn't have to brawl and get it.
21:31Gatti's manager, Pat Lynch, came and leaned over the top rope and shouted excitedly to us,
21:37We're back.
21:39Of course, in terms of fan interest, he was never gone.
21:42But as a competitive force, Arturo Gatti does indeed seem to be on the upswing.
21:48And as Joey Gamache begins to come around, we've got a chance to show you second-round replays
21:54so you can see the conclusion of the fight.
21:58Right uppercut.
21:59And you see why we were worried about Joey Gamache, whose eyes were closed well before he hit the canvas.
22:08The uppercut was perfect, George.
22:10And not only that, he's getting his whole body into it, like one of those home run hitters
22:14throw a baseball, hit a baseball.
22:16You don't want to be hit like that from wide range.
22:18Stand way out there.
22:21Nothing blocked.
22:22Everything is right on target.
22:23So Arturo Gatti's punching power
22:30does a number on Joey Gamache
22:33in a round and a fraction.
22:37Up.
22:38Cross.
22:38Boom.
22:39Classic finishing.
22:40Every shot.
22:40One, two, three.
22:42Three-punch combination.
22:43Each one on target.
22:45Well-thrown power shots by a well-balanced Arturo Gatti.
22:49You'd like to think that a lot of fighters wouldn't like to be carried out on a stretcher,
22:53but there are times when, look, you've got to say to yourself,
22:55I know I'm a man, hey, I don't need to walk out on this one.
22:59There's been talk about a Gatti matchup with Julio Cesar Chavez,
23:01and in terms of style, I think it would be pleasing for a lot of people to watch,
23:05but I wonder if Chavez at his age and at his advanced state of boxing decrepitude
23:11ought to be in the ring with a young lion like Gatti at this point.
23:15What do you think, Judge?
23:18Harold Letterman sitting over there shaking his head as if to say, I don't know,
23:22might be entertaining.
23:24He's scared.
23:28And there's a look at Arturo.
23:31Sportsman.
23:32Nice guy.
23:32He was disturbed at what happened to Reyes Munoz last August 14,
23:38and rather than to stick around and watch the main event on that show at Foxwoods in Connecticut,
23:42he went to the hospital to be certain that Munoz would be okay.
23:45I'm sure that his primary concern ever since referee Benji Estevez stepped in
23:51and ruled the end of the bout has been Gamache.
23:54Be sure that he's all right.
23:56There weren't any cuts in this boxing match.
23:57Maybe it was too fast, but you would think punches were thrown,
24:00but he hasn't got any open cuts, which is a good sign.
24:04That's a big night for Arturo.
24:05Let's go to Michael Buffer for the official particulars.
24:21Ladies and gentlemen, the official time, 41 seconds of round number two.
24:28Following the knockdown, referee stops the contest.
24:31Your winner by knockout victory, yes, ladies and gentlemen, he is back, Arturo Thunder Gatti.
24:54And now let's go up to Larry Mertzen in the ring with the winner.
24:57All right, Jim, first let me report that Joey Gamache is up walking around.
25:03The doctor asked him a series of questions, which he responded to correctly.
25:09He's drinking some water now.
25:12Seems to be all right.
25:14But Arturo, after congratulating you for the second straight time,
25:19you've had a little bit of a scare in the ring, haven't you, after Munoz Reyes, Reyes Munoz?
25:26Well, the first fight to arrest Munoz was, you know, it was kind of scary, but, you know, he's all right.
25:32But Joey Gamache is fine now. He's up.
25:34So you're feeling better?
25:36I'm feeling great.
25:38All right.
25:38Tell us what you were trying to do in this fight
25:41and how it materialized that you got such a quick knockout.
25:45Well, I trained very hard for this fight.
25:48I did everything my trainer Hector Roker told me to do, and I did.
25:51And everything worked out good.
25:54You seemed bigger and stronger than him.
25:58Did you sense that immediately that you could reach him and hurt him?
26:02Well, after the first round, I knew right away I was much stronger than him.
26:05And like I did, I stuck the jab at him,
26:07and that's what opened the opportunity for me to knock him out.
26:10Are you satisfied that you went about this in the way that you had hoped to
26:15by being a boxer, puncher, rather than a brawler?
26:22Well, definitely.
26:23You know, it feels good to win in a knockout.
26:25It's my second fight back.
26:26I won in a knockout.
26:28Then it feels good that I'm going out.
26:29And hopefully I can fight again in April.
26:30What are your goals that are foreseeable right now?
26:36Well, for me, it's to fight, hopefully, the 29th in April,
26:41and hopefully fight for a world title in November.
26:43Who would you like to fight?
26:46Costas, if it's possible.
26:48I won 40.
26:49And you feel coming up from 130, where you won your first title,
26:53you feel that you're strong enough to compete with 140-pounders?
26:57Definitely. I won 40. I feel great.
27:00And another two, three fights like this, I'll be ready for a world title.
27:03Explain one thing to us.
27:05You said you had been in shape or close to this weight for some time,
27:10and yet you still put on 19 pounds in 27 hours.
27:15Do you have any idea of why?
27:16I have no idea, but it looks better.
27:19It's like I'm heavy, but that's not bloated.
27:21I don't feel bloated, and I was fast, so it's a good 19th pound.
27:26Welcome back.
27:27Thank you very much, sir.
27:28We'll be seeing you again.
27:30Jim?
27:31All right, thank you very much.
27:33So Arturo Gotti promises to be a continuing competitive
27:36and entertainment force at 140 pounds.
27:39And George Foreman, you're as concerned about safety in the ring
27:42as anybody I know.
27:43In the old days, you weighed in on the day of the fight.
27:46So if you had punished yourself to make weight,
27:49that's the way you entered the ring.
27:51Now you have the weigh-in the day before the fight.
27:53A guy like Gotti can punish himself to make weight, gain 20 pounds over tonight,
27:57and come into the ring as an entirely different specimen.
27:59Which do you think is safer?
28:01I don't know.
28:02It's safer, I think, for a guy to have that extra day to rehydrate himself, no doubt.
28:07But each guy has the same opportunity.
28:09I would prefer not to go to the olden days, no doubt about it.
28:12And if I were a legitimate 140-pounder getting ready to face Arturo Gotti,
28:18I think I've got to scout the fight knowing that he's going to outweigh me
28:22by a considerable margin coming in.
28:24The magic word is scout.
28:25You have to make sure every time you get in that ring,
28:27you've scouted everything about this guy.
28:28How many pounds he's going to weigh at that fight,
28:31you've got to be prepared.
28:32All right.
28:33Larry Merchant joining us at ringside now.
28:35Larry, George just said that he thinks the safer way
28:39is the modern format under which a fighter weighs in the day before the fight
28:44and gets a one-day buffer zone to get himself back up to snuff, so to speak,
28:48if he's punished himself to make weight.
28:50But looking at what happens to Gotti's opponents, I don't know.
28:53There's a question in my mind about this.
28:54Which do you think is safer?
28:56Health-wise, it is safer.
28:59Competitive-wise, it may not be as good.
29:03In the old days, the weigh-ins were held around noon of the day of a fight.
29:09If it prohibited a fighter or made a fighter pay the price,
29:13if he came in too high, he'd have to sweat the weight off.
29:17So there was added pressure on him to make sure he was at
29:22or very close to the stipulated weight.
29:27But fighters have always battled this.
29:30They all want to come in as strong as they can at whatever weight they're in.
29:34And I don't know there's a perfect solution to it.
29:38But for the protection of the fighter, the present system seems to work best.
29:44Incidentally, the guys, of course, who don't have to worry about it are heavyweights.
29:47And among the many things we still have yet to bring you this evening,
29:50at the end of the evening, after the main event between Oscar Delahoy and Daryl Coley,
29:54we'll have a conversation with both Lennox Lewis and Michael Grant,
29:58set to face off here April 29 in this building for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.
30:04And coming up next, we'll have the main event in the welterweight division.
30:08There's Daryl Coley, who has been a number one ranked contender for a while
30:11and who claims that Oscar Delahoya has been ducking him.
30:15Delahoya, for his part, says, ducking him.
30:18I didn't even know who he was.
30:20We'll have the two of them in the ring together
30:21after this look at some upcoming programs on HBO.
30:24Mark your calendars, because the next two months offer boxing galore on HBO.
30:29First, on March 11, Prince Nassim Hamed faces perhaps his toughest fight to date
30:33against Briani Bungu.
30:35Also that night, Shea Neary takes on Mickey Ward.
30:38March 18, 230-pound title fights.
30:40Floyd Mayweather Jr. defends his championship against Goya Vargas,
30:44and title holder Diego Corrales takes on Derek Gaynor.
30:47April 1, Ukrainian heavyweight sensation Vitaly Klitschko makes his HBO debut
30:51against Donovan Razor Ruddok.
30:53And April 15, a major showdown.
30:56Fernando Vargas takes on Ike Quartey for world supremacy at 154 pounds.
31:00HBO, the heart and soul of boxing.
31:03Also April 17, tune in for the documentary,
31:06Bill Russell, My Life, My Way.
31:08We'll examine the leader of the famed Boston Celtic dynasty,
31:11who also won two NCAA championships and an Olympic gold medal along the way.
31:16Bill Russell, My Life, My Way, coming to HBO in April.
31:21As the new century creeps into view, New York City.
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