Sunday, July 26, 2009

By Isaac Kuhlman

  Arturo Gatti was a former two-time boxing champion. Vernon Forrest was a three-time champion. Both have been brutally murdered in the last 15 days. Gatti was killed while sleeping in a hotel room that he was sharing with his wife, and Forrest was killed in the act of being robbed. The details on both deaths are still inconclusive, but for both men it is certain that they deserved much better.

  Gatti was one of the most exciting fighters that the sport had ever seen, and his three fights with Mickey Ward were instant classics. Though, he may not have had the absolute purest skills or quickest hands, Gatti had one of the biggest hearts in boxing.

  Forrest was as important in the ring as he was outside of the ring. He started the Destiny's Child charity organization to help find homes for mentally disabled people. Forrest was most remembered for his two victories over Shane Mosley in 2002.

  Both fighters were beloved in the ring as Gatti showed how much pain a man can take, and Forrest bled his blue-blooded patriotism from the Olympics to the end of his career. Gatti put all of his hard work to its maximum potential, and Forrest used so much of his natural talent to dismantle opponents.

  Another brother of the ring, Alexis Arguello, also died earlier this month (July 1) as he was just elected to be the new mayor of Managua, Nicaragua in November of 2008. Arguello's non-boxing life was surrounded by the volatility of the Nicaraguan political machine where he was dealing with or against the government throughout various stages in his life. Arguello was originally believed to have committed suicide but new evidence may prove otherwise.

  The boxing world mourns all of their fallen brethren as it was not their time to go. Gatti, 37, Forrest, 38, and Arguello, 57, were all in perfectly good health before the circumstances that surrounded their deaths occurred. Anyone who has seen these fighters fight, met them personally, or just has a distaste for senseless violence can agree that though these fighters pass, they will not be forgotten.