After Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti did what they did this past Saturday night, boxing fans called each other up, zipped emails to one another and crashed message boards with their thoughts and opinions. MaxBoxing.com caught up to the winner of the barn-burner of the year, Ward, and got some feedback directly from one-half of the source.

Ward talks to Patrick Mitchell about his strategy in the fight, the classic-but-brutal ninth round, fighting in his mid-30s, having one more big fight, and retirement. He doesn't talk your ear off like Bernard Hopkins, or make up catchy rhymes like Roy Jones Jr., but he makes up for his lack of loquaciousness in this interview the same way he makes up for his shortcomings in the ring -- with honesty and humility.

Here's a memo to HBO from all real boxing fans. The subject is fight purses:

"Pay Micky! We don't care how you do it, but we want to see boxing's true warriors, the backbone of the sport, specifically 'Irish' Micky Ward, get the big paydays they deserve. While you're at it, write a fat check to Arturo 'Thunder' Gatti as well. We'd prefer you take the few million you've earmarked for Roy Jones Jr.'s next title defense and hand it over to Ward and Gatti.

signed, The Fans" 

If such an memo was sent to HBO's programming brass, Micky Ward would certainly agree. After toiling on the fringe of boxing stardom for most of his career, Ward recently rededicated himself, and in the process established himself as a top contender at 140 pounds. Ward feels that with his gritty performance against Gatti, he's finally positioned himself for the big payday he has been desperately seeking for the past few years.  

"I hope [the victory] brings me that big time fight now, you know? I think I deserve it," Micky told MaxBoxing just two days after the punishing Gatti fight. "Retirement is in the back of my mind, but I really want to get a big fight.

"If I'd lost the Gatti fight, I probably would've had one more fight in my hometown, just as a 'going away fight', and that's it. But now that I've won, if I can get that big fight, God willing, I'm gonna take it." 

The friendly, down-to-earth Ward is relaxing and recuperating at his home in Lowell, Massachusetts. When asked how he's feeling, Micky laughed.

"Sore, pretty sore," he said. "You can't beat age, you know?"

Despite keeping himself in top physical condition year around, he says he feels the effects of fighting at the age of 36.

"I was a little wore out," Ward said. "As I get older, of course, I don't have as much energy, but I felt fine."  

Still, Micky's conditioning was a major factor in his performance.

"I keep myself physically fit, and it shows. I felt pretty good late in the fight," he said. "I was in excellent shape. I've been on a lifting program at the World's Gym in Tewksbury, keeping myself in shape, physically fit. I do a lot of roadwork as well, not a lot of miles, but I do more intervals, speed work."  

While Gatti was able to move effectively throughout much of the fight, the relentless pressure applied by Ward wore Arturo down, allowing Micky to work himself into position to unleash his trademark left hook to the body, possibly the single most powerful punch in boxing today.

"They trained to prepare for my left hook to the body, right? I still caught him with it," Ward said with a laugh. "I was thinking that sooner or later I'd get to him with the hook, but he's such a tough guy, you never know. He gets hit with everything but comes right back, so you have to be really careful."

Heading into the fight, Micky expected nothing less than a rough, grueling throwback type of bout.

"I anticipated a tough fight, a great fight. But to anticipate it, and then to go out and do it, it's two different things. It worked out better than I ever thought it would," he said. "I trained for a fight like that, going straight ahead. I knew he was a hell of a fighter with a lot of pride. I knew if I kept the pressure on him, he wouldn't run that much. So I just kept trying to get in on him, and to make the fight."  

The fight should have been stopped by referee Frank Cappuccino in the ninth round, according to Micky.

"I was catching him. I thought he was out on his feet!" he exclaimed. "They should've stopped the fight. Buddy McGirt was on the ring apron with a towel, that's why I thought I won! I thought it was over going into the 10th. Yeah, I looked like a fool with my hands up." 

Although Gatti opened a nasty cut over Ward's right eye in the opening round, and landed clean blows throughout the bout, Micky said he was never in serious trouble.

"I couldn't see too well in the second or third round. Stupid me, instead of wiping the blood away, I wiped it right into my eyes," Ward laughed. "Honestly, he has good power, but I was never hurt in that fight. He stunned me a few times, but I was never hurt bad. He was a champion at 130, but now he's fighting at 140, where I've fought my whole life." 

While there were words exchanged between the Gatti and Ward camps in the days before the fight, Ward said he and Arturo share a mutual respect.

"Gatti and I are fine. I've always respected him," he said. "There were a few words leading up to the fight. If he doesn't want to respect me, that's fine. But he showed me respect. He's a good guy, there's no bad blood there."  

Though the inevitable talk of a rematch has already begun, Ward isn't ready to sign on the dotted line. First, he wants to rest.

"I'm enjoying this one right now," he said. "I'll probably take a month off, out of the gym. Give my body a rest. This was definitely one of the toughest fights I've ever had. It's hard to say which was the toughest, because they all are tough in their own way, you know? But this one ranks up there." 

While boxing fans undoubtedly would like to see a rematch, Ward isn't completely sold on the idea. A big payday is foremost in Ward's mind at this stage of his career. His thoughts on a rematch with Gatti?

"We'll see what happens. I'm not against it. Whatever is best for me. If fighting Gatti again is best for me financially, then I'll do it," he said.

And a fight with undisputed 140-pound champion Kostya Tszyu?

"I'd like to fight Kostya Tszyu. I think I'd match up fine. I know he's a strong guy, but he's not that much stronger than Gatti. I'll just train my ass off and see what happens," he said. "Whatever fight makes the most financial sense for me. I'll do a rematch with Gatti. If a better money fight comes along, like Kostya Tszyu, then I'll do that. Whatever is best for me. I think I deserve it."

Boxing fans couldn't agree more.  

Patrick Mitchell can be contacted at probox@cox.net