FanHouse MickyWard

HBO did boxing fans a great service this weekend by replaying the three classic fights between Micky Ward and the late Arturo Gatti. Viewing them again was a real pleasure.

I watched all three fights live, but I hadn't seen more than a few seconds of highlights from them in the last five years, so I went into the re-airing with a fresh set of eyes. The first thing that jumped out at me is that these fights really were amazing. Sometimes you go back and watch a classic sporting event from the past and it doesn't feel like it deserves its legendary status. If anything, the Gatti-Ward trilogy has gotten better with age.

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Arturo Gatti, the boxing great who was killed last weekend in Brazil, will always be remembered for his three epic fights with Micky Ward -- a trilogy as good as any in boxing history. Ward said this week that he was shocked by the death of Gatti, whose wife is currently in custody and charged with his murder.

A week before his fight with Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao and his trainer, Freddie Roach, had a famous guest at training camp: actor Mark Wahlberg.

"I've come to see the man," Wahlberg said on HBO's De La Hoya/Pacquiao 24/7. "Freddie's been a friend of mine for a long time, and I'm a big fan of Pacquiao. It's nice to see him in person. I've seen him fight a couple times, but to see him this up close and personal is worth the trip. I'm going to bring my son down. I have a ring in my house because I've been training to do the Irish Micky Ward story for a couple of years. My son's always beating me up, and he calls himself Pacquiao."

The Irish Micky Ward story that Wahlberg refers to is the upcoming film The Fighter, in which Wahlberg will play Ward, a boxer who retired in 2003 after his trilogy of fights with Arturo Gatti. And it's easy to see why, if Wahlberg admires Ward, he would be a Pacquiao fan: Ward was an exciting, hard-hitting brawler. A lot like Pacquiao -- except that Pacquiao is a better boxer than Ward ever was.

We'll have a Pacquiao-De La Hoya live blog on Saturday night here at FanHouse.