The blows were vicious and final. Exhibiting a huge weight advantage, Arturo Gatti destroyed Joey Gamache in the featured undercard, knocking out the 5-6, 146-pound Gamache 41 seconds into the second round.

Gatti, weighing 14 pounds more than his opponent and standing 5-8, finished Gamache with a frightening triple-killer, a right uppercut, a left hook, and a roundhouse right, all landing flush to the head. Gamache was out before he hit the canvas and when he did land head-first, the back of his head snapped back with a sickening thud against the teal canvas. Gatti was officially listed at 141, three-quarters of a pound more than Gamache. Gamache’s handlers complained that Gatti was much heavier than their man at Friday’s weigh-in. Gatti somehow gained 19 pounds overnight or Gamache’s men were correct.

Gatti had already knocked Gamache through the ropes in the first round with a right and put him to the ground a second time in the round. It was a fight that referee Benjie Estaves could have stopped in Round One.

After the knockout, Gamache stayed down for several minutes. When he finally gained consciousness, he tried to sit up several times, but then went back down. Finally, Gamache was able to talk to the ringside doctor and there was a sigh of relief throughout the Garden.

Gamache eventually staggered to his corner. When he did leave the ring, he refused a stretcher He was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital for a CAT-scan. When he first went down and awoke, Gamache told his handlers, “Get me up.” He soon went back down. About 30 seconds later, he again asked, “Get me up.” Soon he was on his stool and told the doctors he did not want to leave the ring on a stretcher. He didn’t, showing incredible courage as his record dropped to 55-4.

Jersey City’s Gatti knew right away he was in command, mainly because he was so much bigger and stronger than Gamache, out of Lewiston, Me. “I felt good right from the start,” said Gatti, 31-4. “I knew right away I was much stronger than him. It was just a matter of time before I knocked him out.”

Really a matter of seconds.