Floyd Mayweather Punches Gatti’s Ticket

Quick, someone call Arturo Gatti and tell him to either get out of town or find a way out of this fight before it‘s too late, before something really baaaaad happens.

Tell him to fake an injury, join the priesthood, become a pacifist or move to Manchuria. Tell him to put on 30 pounds, pretend his dog is sick or have his buddies kidnap him and get him drunk in Jersey City on the night of the fight. If none of those things work, tell him to demand an extra $4 million and then watch the fight disappear.

Whatever he has to do to avoid getting into the ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr. on June 25, he should do it. We don’t want to witness the carnage that will be dumped in Gatti’s corner once Pretty Boy gets him against the ropes and works him over.

At least that’s the way Mayweather (33-0, 22 KOs) sees their junior welterweight title fight unfolding.

“This guy Arturo Gatti (39-6, 30 KOs), he’s never been in there with a guy like me,” Mayweather said on a recent conference call promoting their fight at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City for Gatti‘s WBC title. “Mark my words. When he gets in there with a guy like me . . . Of his last six opponents, I could beat all those guys in the same night.”

Apparently, Mayweather doesn’t hold Gatti in high esteem. If contempt was a knockout punch, this fight would already be over.

“All of his shots are wide,” Mayweather said when asked about Gatti’s style. “He’s flat-footed, and like I continue to tell the media, I’ll beat him. He’s a club fighter and they put him on HBO. He’s a C-plus fighter and they put him in there against C-minus fighters and they have a war and a good fight.”

Asked how he would respond to the claims by Gatti’s camp that his chin was suspect, Mayweather didn’t exactly expound on his ability to take a punch.

“First off, (Gatti’s) trainer is Buddy McGirt,” Mayweather said, perhaps forgetting that McGirt won’t be fighting on the night of June 25. “This is the guy that was knocked out by Meldrick Taylor, who was not a big puncher at all.”

Whoa, wait a minute Floyd. We’re talking about your chin, not McGirt’s. We don’t care if McGirt gets rocked by a small breeze. What about your chin?

“(Gatti) is going to find out that I can crack once I hit him on his chin,” Mayweather said. “You can ask anyone out there whose chin I have cracked. My knockout ratio is better than his, anyway. Like I said before, the name of the game is to get hit and not get hit.”

Yeah, but your chin, Floyd, your chin. Is it really suspect?

“The less you get hit, the longer you last in this sport. I‘m not in this sport to see how hard I can get hit or to see how many big punches I can take.”

Asked if the New Jersey crowd – Gatti‘s crowd – would have an influence on him, Mayweather removed any doubts about the home-field advantage.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “He’s going to come out and you guys from Atlantic City are going to be cheering and going crazy. Then after the first few punches I land, everybody is going to sit down and be quiet. It will not last that long.”

So, Floyd, will you get a fair shake in Jersey if it goes to the judges?

“It won’t go the distance.”

Don’t worry, Arturo. You can still catch that plane to China.