Last nite’s HBO "After-Dark" offering from the boardwalk of bag ladies at Atlantic City, was pretty much a last chance shot in the dark for a Gatti coming off the nasty shellacking in his most recent outing - the Mayweather affair.

The New Jersey faithful were there in numbers to shout support in hopes their guy would still have something left at a now age 33, and readying to do battle in his 47th outing.

The "other" guy was a visitor from Denmark, that had never before waged war outside the home country - age 34 and unblemished resume` of 37 wins with 27 stoppages - and a southpaw.

Then the opening bell - and Arturo the "human highlight reel" begins with a few dance steps, and the tourist in constant pursuit but little else - and what we were getting is Gatti the hoofer - not ballet or ballroom but rather more a pugilistic version of Gene Kelly than Fred Astaire - and the band played on.

Other than stanza four, it was all Gatti easily reading Damgaard the plodder round after round - and in typical Gatti crowd pleaser style, he would pause to engage the lighter punching Dane in hot exchanges.

The Buddy McGirt  tutoring came through loud and clear in the pre-fight game plan - not only was Arturo moving well but was operating effectively from both port and the starboard side - a new look to be sure.

Credit the Dane with durability and a rock chin over ten stanzas of more receiving than delivering - but come numero eleven it would be Gatti dropping both Damgaard and the curtain at the 2:54 mark - the lethal weapon a right hook from the port side stance.

Ironically, in a one-sided scoring affair with Damgaard maybe winning two rounds at best, as late as the 11th stanza, a large boob of a Jersey hack in charge of the action, one Lindsey Page, found a need to halt matters to punish the Dane for a hitting-holding infraction.

Post Scripts: Gatti ~ Clearly a surprise that he had as much left after a documented career of giving heart and soul, while facing better skilled practitioners along with the club fighter types.
Last night the foe was more amateur than professional in skills - and clearly the slower of both hand and foot and punching power as well. Still, a solid chin enabled him to supply the pressure each stanza until being ambushed by the surprise power hook. He proved the ideal opponent as a tester for what lie ahead for Arturo. HBO as thrilled as Gatti and entourage - talk is maybe next up a Baldomir of Zabba-Judah upset fame for the WBC trinket.

As Don King would shout it,  "Only in America"- and let me include "Only under the multi-titles of straps real and imagined, out there to be purchased."                       

                    Damagaard ~ Most of us knew little about the undefeated masked man from Denmark - unbeaten is all. From what we got last noche is a product under a warped system. One that reflects the skilled and unskilled strutting around with a strap or two over the shoulder. Surely more Woolworth than Tiffany.

And it says here, under the yesterday uno strap per weight class, more than a few today champions would be wearing a whole different label - it’s called club fighter.

In closing, I did enjoy the action which was spirited - but so too were them B’way Arena and Ridgewood Grove weekly affairs, with names like Lenny "Boom-Boom" Mancini, Paddy Young, Tony Pellone, Ernie Durando playing pitch and catch to the delight of the cheering beer guzzlers in attendance.

GEL