Boxing: Leija Faces Long Odds Against Gatti

The Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J.

"Jesse" James Leija knows he's in hostile territory.

When Leija squares off against WBC champion Arturo Gatti for the 140-pound title Saturday, he will do so before a sellout crowd of Gatti partisans, trying to do what no one's done in six years - beat Gatti on his home court.

To do it, he plans to use Gatti's strengths against him.

"His strengths are also his weaknesses," Leija, 38, of San Antonio said Friday. "That warrior mentality of his, the way he'll let you hit him so he can hit you, that can work against him. If there's a fighter who can make him pay for that, he can be beaten."