Things not thread worthy

[BrutalBodyShots]

Gatti vs Corrales. What a match up. Two of my favorite fighters of all time.

Both had a lot of power, although Corrales had a little more power P4P. Both were easy to hit. Both would get hurt in the ring, recover, and come back. Definitely a hell of a match up at 130, 135 or 140.

I think the outcome of the fight largely depends on the manner in which Gatti fights. Corrales for the most part always had the same plan - get to his opponent and land big shots. As we all know Gatti at different stages of his career was a brawler and at other times was a pretty solid boxer with pretty good movement and a pretty good jab.

Both guys followed the same general path with respect to resiliency over their careers. Earlier on while both got hurt, both were able to recover pretty well and rally back. Corrales up until Castillo I, which took a lot out of him, was very resilient. Gatti had a lot taken out of him against Ward I, and coupled with many wars prior to that was less resilient toward toward the end of his career. I think the earlier they fight each other in their respective careers, the longer the fight lasts due to the greater ability for each to give and take.

The X-Factor in this fight for me, the punch that makes me pick a winner in this mythical match up is the left hook. Gatti's left hook. Corrales throughout his entire career was wide open to the left and was dropped probably 10 times by it from Mayweather, Castillo and Casamayor. He couldn't get away from it and had no defense for it.

What I see happening in this fight is that Gatti comes out trying to box and move, similar to the first 4 rounds against Ward I and all of the rounds against Ward II. Gatti banks rounds with his better ring generalship and staying away from Corrales' big stuff early. Like Ward was able to finally get to Gatti after a few rounds, I think Corrales gets to him as well in spots and Gatti has to stand and fight. In those exchanges, Corrales gets the better of Gatti and Corrales wins those rounds.

One thing Gatti would do however when boxing and moving was periodically plant his feet and fire off a big combination, usually punctuated with the left hook. I think Corrales plodding forward, open to the left hook eats several of these throughout the fight and gets dropped hard. Early on I think his resiliency gets him through a couple of these rough moments, where Gatti probably goes in for the kill, punches himself out and ends up getting the worse end of the damage from Corrales rallying back. I do think that at some point around round 8 or 9 however, Corrales walks into a left hook that he doesn't beat the 10 count on, probably just missing the count and yelling at the ref that he made it.

Again, for me, it all comes down to that left hook. Had Gatti's money punch been a right hook instead, my pick on the fight would be completely different. Gatti's left IMO carries more mustard on it than Casamayor, Castillo and Mayweather's so when it gets there it would produce favorable results for him.