GATTI HAD BALLS BOTH IN & OUT OF RING
New York, NY– A 6’5” Los Angeles based talk show host named Tariq “King Flex” Nasheed recently made mention of a physical encounter he had with the late Arturo Gatti. Gatti was only 5’7” but apparently was not diminutive in heart as he picked a fight with the much larger Nasheed. Nasheed, known for writing relationship themed self help books like, The Art Of Mackin,’ hosts a weekly podcast and revisited an encounter he had with Gatti about eight years ago. The story was both entertaining and telling as he described an incident that detailed the type of man Gatti was outside of the ring.
ARTURO GATTI BEING…..ARTURO GATTI
According to the story Tariq was visiting a “posh” hotel with a few female companions in the Los Angeles area and heard loud music coming from one of the rooms. He noticed what he described as a “short Puerto Rican dude” (Gatti obviously is Italian) in the hotel and was surprised to see someone like him at a five star hotel. He recalls that Gatti showed some interest in a few of his female companions and asked them if they would like to join him and his entourage for a party. The women respectfully declined noting that they were with Tariq and Gatti’s response was, “Yeah, *uck him”.
GATTI GOT THE “LITTLE BROTHER” TREATMENT
Feeling disrespected Nasheed said something to Gatti and Gatti immediately ran up in his face seemingly inclined for confrontation. Not knowing that Gatti was a professional fighter, Nasheed did not take full advantage of assaulting the belligerent Gatti, but did put him in a headlock and backed him into an elevator. He notes that he stopped the elevator and banged his head up against the elevator doors for a while to disorient Gatti who he felt was under the influence of some sort of drug. He let Gatti go as one of Gatti’s friends began to call out for him and decided that it was best for him to exit the premises as well.
ARTURO RECOGNIZED FROM TV CLIP
Not being a huge fight fan, Nasheed noted that it wasn’t until later, when he actually saw a clip on ESPN that he recognized that that little guy he pulled into the elevator was Arturo Gatti, a championship level professional fighter. Certainly we know Gatti had balls in the ring, but obviously he was no different anywhere else. RIP to one of the most exciting boxers I’ve ever seen.