Baldomir stops Gatti in nine... hopefully he sent him into retirement!

Last weekend at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ, World Welterweight Champion Carlos Balomdir stopped Arturo Gatti in nine rounds.

After a rather successful opening round for Gatti, a slow feeling out round in which Gatti was able to move around and box with Baldomir, Baldomir's natural welterweight strength and accurate right hand managed to tell the tale for the rest of the evening. As the rounds progressed, Baldomir's right hand appeared to find its target with increasing frequency.

In the fifth round, Gatti seemed to hurt his hand, which added to the jeopardy that Baldomir was placing him in round by round. As Larry Merchant eluded to at ringside, the silence of the pro-Gatti cult-like crowd, packed tight inside Boardwalk Hall, was not unlike that of a funeral. In the ninth round, Baldomir trapped Gatti on the ropes, unleashing a series of sledgehammer shots and knocking Gatti down with a monster left hook.

Gatti got up at the count of six, but Baldomir jumped on him, attacked him, and knocked him down once again. Referee Wayne Hedgepath had seen enough and mercifully called a halt to the bout. Hopefully, this was the final appearance of Arturo Gatti entering a ring for a prize fight. Arturo has clearly seen better days, and should retire while he is still healthy, perhaps even taking Fernando Vargas along with him.

After all is said and done, Baldomir is still the recognized Welterweight Champion of the world. With this big victory over Gatti, Baldomir has successfully made his first title defense. Gatti is the 2nd opponent whom Baldomir went to his hometown and achieved victory, the first being his well-deserved title winning victory over Zab Judah last January.

Baldomir is a tremendously strong welterweight who can punch and take a punch. He is not the fastest guy in the world, but he is quite solid in his attack and his durability. Santa Fay, Argentina, Baldomir's home country, also produced Carlos Monzon, one of the greatest middleweight champions of all time. In this day and age, Santa Fay says hello to their biggest star champion fighting at the present time, Welterweight Champion Carlos Baldomir.

Would anybody be interested in seeing Baldomir, the hometown striker, defend his Welterweight Championship against Pound 4 Pound Picasso Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas, NV or Grand Rapids Michigan???