Arturo “Thunder” Gatti born April 15, 1972 – July 11, 2009 was a professional boxer. Born in Cassino, Italy, and raised in Montreal, Canada, Gatti relocated to Jersey City, United States as a teenager. He returned to Montreal after retiring from boxing to work in real estate. Gatti won world championships designated by two different boxing boards in two different weight classes. He also participated in Ring Magazine’s “fight of the year” a total of four times (1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003). He announced his retirement on July 14, 2007.
Arturo Gatti was a member of the Canadian National team, and was training to represent Canada at the 1992 Summer Games, but at age 19 (in 1991), he decided to turn pro instead. He began boxing professionally on the night of November 17, 1992. His next fight, on March 24, 1993, was his first fight abroad, where he visited Amsterdam, Netherlands and knocked out Plawen Goutchev in round one. In 1994, he beat Leon Bostic, and followed through with a win over Pete Taliaferro to win the USBA super featherweight title, by a knockout in round one. He retained the title against Richard Salazar and former world champion Jose Sanabria.