Gamache files 2nd lawsuit

ALBANY, N.Y. – Four years after the knockout that ended his career, ex-champ Joey Gamache has a nephew boxing professionally, a new attorney and another lawsuit claiming fraud at his final weigh-in.

The 37-year-old also has neurological damage and headaches still from the brutal two-round KO by a larger man, said attorney Michael Coyle. Gamache has been doing some work as a boxing trainer and promoter but said the migraines stop him and he takes medications.

“I’m always optimistic in the sense that’s the way I grew up,” Gamache said Wednesday. “If I’m not feeling good or suffering, if I’m having problems, I keep things to myself.”

The problems are public in federal court in Manhattan, where the latest lawsuit named boxer Arturo Gatti, his manager Patrick Lynch, promoters Top Rank and Main Events, former New York State Athletic Commission executive director Anthony Russo and ex-chairman Melville Southard Jr. The suit claims they all knew Gatti was overweight but made sure the fight went ahead.

“Joey’s professional career as a fighter was ended by what, as far as I’m concerned, was a total fraud on the part of Gatti, his people, the promoters and the athletic commission,” Coyle said.

Known for winning a $4.4 million jury award in 1996 for Kevin Rooney after the trainer was fired by heavyweight Mike Tyson, Coyle took over Gamache’s case in December.

The defendants have denied any wrongdoing, saying Gatti reached the 141-pound contract limit and has been prone to gaining several pounds between weigh-ins and boxing matches the next day. The state inspector general’s office agreed in a report last year.

The new suit seeking $10 million was filed on the four-year anniversary of the Feb. 26, 2000, HBO-televised fight. A $5.5 million suit against the commission filed two years ago is pending in the state Court of Claims.

The suits allege Russo let Gatti step off the scale even as the needle went all the way up, and then ignored complaints by Gamache’s handlers. Less than 24 hours later, HBO unofficially weighed the boxers again, and Gatti came in at 160 pounds, while Gamache weighed 145.

“No human being puts on 10 pounds of muscle overnight. It’s supposed to be a fair fight, and that’s not a fair fight,” said Coyle. He has the weigh-in videotape, he said.

Gatti, who now holds a world title at junior welterweight, has said his weight was questioned only because the fight was a blowout. “If I had beat him up for five or six rounds, then nobody would have said anything,” he said.

Lynch has questioned the accuracy of the HBO’s unofficial second weigh-in on fight night at Madison Square Garden, saying it was a bathroom scale on an uneven floor.