Floyd Mayweather Jr. asserted his dominance over Arturo Gatti - just as he predicted he would. Controlling every facet of the fight, Mayweather fulfilled his promise to punish and humiliate the outclassed underdog.

Mayweather's speed and accuracy proved unstoppable. From the opening bell, Mayweather pelted Gatti at will, picking his targets and hitting them just about every time. A controversial knockdown occured at the end of round one when Gatti paused, thinking referee Earl Morton was breaking up the action due to Mayweather's holding behind the head. Unfortunately for Gatti, Morton had not given the break and Mayweather proceeded to knock the surprised and blindsided Gatti down with a left delivered squarely to the head. Gatti had forgotten one of boxing's cardinal rules: Protect yourself at all times.

Still, Mayweather did not need to capitalize on moments of confusion to execute his plan. Gatti looked bewildered, indecisive and completely ill-equipped to thwart Mayweather's brilliant and effective assault. By round 4, Mayweather was taking turns with Gatti's head and body. Not since the Rocky movies, had boxing fans seen a boxer's head snapped back the way Gatti's did each time Mayweather popped it. Gatti's hometown crowd ooo'd and ahh'd at the masterful and sometimes viscious beating that Mayweather was dishing out to its hometown favorite.

As Gatti's eyes continued to swell and as his face grimaced over and over, the inevitable finish approached. AFter his fighter endured a brutal sixth round, Gatti's trainer, Buddy McGirt refused to let Gatti march out of the corner for more unecessary and unavoidable punishment.

Mayweather wept right after the stoppage, reveling in his spectacular PPV performance. Upcoming welterweight superstar Miguel Cotto watched from ringside. So did welterweight champion Ricky Hatton, who was serving as a commentator for the BBC. But seeing this one-sided affair close-up may given each fighter second thoughts about hopping in the ring with Mayweather Jr.

On the undercard, Carlos Maussa stole the show from Vivian Harris in what was supposed to be Harris' coming-out party. Harris appeared tense from the opening bell, attacking Maussa with an obvious sense of urgency.

While Harris' combination of boxing and punching enabled him to do some damage, the weaknesses he showed proved more telling. In each round, Harris would rock Maussa several times for the first half of the round. Then, Harris would tire out, allowing Maussa to launch damaging and often unanswered counter-attacks. By round four, Maussa was confidently dropping his gloves and grinning at Harris, after Harris completed his all-out one minute attacks. Maussa was beginning to see that the ebb and flow of the fight had become predictable and was working in his favor. With Harris unable to elude Maussa's punches through movement and unable to block Maussa's shots with his gloves, Maussa's punches began taking their toll. During the latter half of the 7th round, a weary Vivian Harris left himself open to a perfect left hand. A clearly hurt Harris did what he could to beat the count, but fell short by a second or two. While Maussa executed a clean knockout, not many, including the referee or Harris' corner made light of the fact that Maussa hit Harris with an overhand right while Harris was down. This probably gives Harris added incentive for a rematch.

The Maussa-Harris bout proved to be the most competitive and entertaining fight of the night. Both fighters found themselves cut by round 3 and both fighters inflicted significant damage on the other. Still, it was Maussa who upstaged Harris, pulling the rug from underneath Harris's ill-fated showcase.

Also on the undercard, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. continued his gradual but active climb into the ranks by dominating Ruben Galvan, who once went the distance with top flight welterwieght Paul Spadafora. After witnessing its fighter suffer on the wrong end of an obvious mismatch, Galvan's corner threw in the towel in round four. Galvan's claim to fame was that he had never been knocked down. Chavez Jr., a.k.a. "The Second Coming" also put a stop to that streak in round four, shortly before the fight was halted.