Gatti wins rubber match in junior welterweight rivalry

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Junior welterweight Arturo Gatti pounded out another thrilling 10-round decision over Micky Ward on Saturday night, closing the book on a fight trilogy that breathed new life into both men's careers.\nGatti, who split a pair of fights with Ward last year, outpunched and outmaneuvered the slower, 37-year-old Ward this time around, overcoming a broken hand and a knockdown to win the rubber match in a unanimous decision.\nWard, a hard-hitting former club fighter with the resiliency of a champion, never succumbed despite a bloody nose, two cuts on his face and a series of exchanges in which he looked like he was about to collapse.\nPeppered by jabs he was too slow to block, Ward was bleeding and in trouble by the end of the third round.\nBut Gatti (36-6) broke his right hand on an uppercut to the hip in that round, and he fought nearly one-handed for several rounds afterward.\nIn the fourth, Ward (38-13) engineered a stunning turnaround, connecting with two lefts and a right to the head that stopped Gatti in his tracks. Ward then hit him with five straight left uppercuts to the body, bringing the roaring crowd of 12,643 in Boardwalk Hall to its feet.\nIn the sixth, Gatti, 31, of Jersey City, N.J., dominated the round but got caught with an overhand right to the top of the head a second before the bell rang and went down.\nBut he recovered again and was never in trouble after that. Not that Ward gave up.\nThe two went after each other the rest of the way, although Ward hit nothing but air with his lunging left hooks and couldn't block Gatti. In the seventh, Gatti landed 61 of 101 power punches, according to punch statistics kept at ringside.\nWard, who had promised to retire after the fight, made good on the vow afterward, saying he was through with boxing.\n"He hit me with some shots early on that took the steam out of me," said Ward, of Lowell, Mass.\nBoth fighters were taken to Atlantic City Medical Center for treatment. Ward complained of a right hand injury and a ringside physician who examined him after the fight said he thought it was broken.\nJudges George Hill and Joe Pasquale scored it 96-93 and Luis Rivera had it 97-92. Gatti won on the AP's card 96-93.\n"I knew that he was coming to fight," said Gatti, who hugged Ward and shared a bottle of water with him in the ring after the decision was announced. "He's a great champion. Anyone else would have quit. He's got a lot of heart."\nThe rousing non-title bout was a fitting climax to the three-fight series, which started last year with Ward knocking down Gatti en route to a 10-round decision in the first.\nOn Nov. 23, Gatti got his revenge, posting a unanimous decision over Ward after dazing him with a knockdown in the third.\nWhen the 10th round was about to begin Saturday night, ring announcer Michael Buffer noted the significance of the finish, as if anyone needed reminding: "This is the 10th -- make that the 30th -- and final round."\n"It was an epic trilogy and a tremendous fight that hearkened back to the first one," said Lou DiBella, Ward's manager. "Tonight is as good as it gets. These 30 rounds will live in boxing history"