This past Saturday we had traditional rivalries being played out across the land on college football fields. Auburn and Alabama fought it out in 'the Iron Bowl', Cal and Stanford engaged in another 'Big Game', USC and UCLA played for 'the Victory Bell' and there was a northwest 'Civil War' when Oregon St. and Oregon strapped on their helmets and pads.

There were some great games but they paled in comparison to what has become boxing's most compelling rivalry ‹ Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward.

On Saturday night in Atlantic City, Gatti would even up the score by conclusively out-boxing and out-punching Ward over 10 fast-paced rounds. No, it wasn't nearly the fight we had back in May, it was about two-thirds of it in fact. But you know what? That still makes it one helluva fight.

The early rounds were much like the first encounter with Gatti boxing adroitly from the outside using his legs and sharp jab with Ward in steady pursuit blocking much of the on-coming fire with his hands held high. And much like that first bout you always got the sense that Ward, even when he was being out-boxed and out-manuervered was always dangerous and almost impervious to the power of Gatti. That is until the third round when a big counter right hand from Gatti would catch Ward coming in and sent him to the canvas.

What would ensue from there in that round was what round nine was to the first match-up. Ward would fight back gamely and bravely but it was clear that it would be Gatti's night from this point forward.

The rest of the night would see as disciplined a Gatti as we have seen since his rematch with Tracy Harris Patteron in 1996. He won this rematch with his legs and head-movement as much he did with his fists. His trainer Buddy McGirt is proving that, maybe you can indeed teach an old dog some new tricks. On the flip side, the 37-year-old Ward looked a bit worn, perhaps now his body is starting to feel the effects of all those grueling fights, or maybe he just had a bad night, or maybe Gatti was just that much better the second time around? It certainly didn't look like the 'Irish' Micky we saw back in May.

But the beauty of this rivalry is that most likely we'll get a chance for Ward to redeem himself. With this series tied at one, a rubber match is a natural.

And besides, for either man, a shot at the undisputed jr. welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu most likely wouldn't be as lucrative as a third bout with each other. But as George Foreman said during the telecast "This is not about the money". This is about two real fighters who go together like peanut butter and jelly. They were made for each other.

HBO paid homage to their 500th fight broadcast (and perhaps the old-school styles of both boxers) by broadcasting thier pre-fight features in black-and-white and using by-gone graphics and microphones.

And it was appropriate. Both Gatti and Ward harken to another era of boxing. Italian versus Irish matchups were prevelant at one time and these guys have styles that makes you think of names like Conn, Graziano, LaMotta, Basilio and Zale.

If HBO didn't go back to their color format just as the opening bell rang, you could've been duped into thinking you were watching one of those fights. And like those boxers of yesteryear, don't be surprised if they fight again to break their deadlock in the near future. Imagine that, two guys who don't take years to make anticipated rematches or wait for their foes to use themselves up before doing so. What in the name of Sugar Ray Leonard is going on here? Gatti-Ward. They've done it twice, can we get one more?

FUTURE RIVALS

This past weekend saw a bevy of prospects from 130 to 140 pounds that could soon be making some interesting matchups in the near future.

On Friday night, Top Ranks prized Puerto Rican prospect, Miguel Cotto, improved to 13-0 by systematically downing the tough Ubaldo Hernandez in front of a rabid hometown crowd in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Cotto is a measured and patient fighter who has a lethal left hook. He's already got the presence of a 10-year vet and has gotten some valuable experience against John Brown and now Hernandez his last two outings.

It'll be interesting to see what happens when he faces a guy that can stamp him with a jab and move away from his left hook ala Bernard Hopkins against Felix Trinidad. Still, the future looks bright and now he moves on to face Cesar Bazan in February in another step-up bout.

This past Friday nights Telefutura fight was chalk full of quick knockouts, which allowed several prospects to get some camera time.

First, it was the tall and rangy Jeffrey Resto blowing out Mambea Bakari in one explosive round to move to 14-0. It was impressive considering that Bakari had gone back and forth with prospect Freddie Cadena in his last bout. Resto, has good size and can punch more than just a little. Looking at his body, he could become a full-fledged welterweight very soon.

Then lightweight Darling Jimenez kept up his winning ways by stopping Corey Alcaron in two short rounds. Jimenez, who is now 13-0 with six stoppages, is not a great puncher but rather a smart, well-rounded boxer who isn't afraid to mix it up. He's not that heavy-handed but he's very sharp with his combinations.

The main event on that telecast featured Juan Diaz, who last year seemingly had an early-life crisis as he broke down emotionally after being taken to the limit by the aforementioned Ubaldo Hernandez. From that point, Diaz has matured as a fighter and gotten himself in much better shape. At the beginning of his young career last year he was a bit soft and flabby fighting up and above 140 pounds, now he's coming in closer to the lightweight limit and he's made some progress.

While he'll never be a great puncher, he is turning his punches over better and his combinations are much crisper. Diaz, will always have problems with guys that can stick a jab in his face and move but he doe make for crowd pleasing fights with his aggressive style.

And then on Saturday night on the untelevised portion of the Gatti-Ward II undercard, Freddie Cadena, a Puerto Rican that fights out of Patterson, New Jersey improved to 5-0 by stopping Brad Jensen in eight rounds. Cadena, isn't particularly great any at one thing, but is pretty well-rounded and isn't afraid to mix it up.

Right now, the jr. welterweight division is one of the deepest in boxing, with names like Tszyu, DeMarcus Corley, Zab Judah, Sharmba Mitchell, Gatti, Ben

Tackie, Ricky Hatton, Vince Phillips, Ward, Diobyles Hurtado, Randall Bailey, Omar Weis and Jesse James Leija all showing up in the various rankings.

But it's also filled with a plethora of young prospects. In addition to those that were in action this week are names like Ricardo Williams (just coming

off a win against Terron Millett a few weeks back), Mohammed Abdullaev (who beat both Cotto and Williams at the 2000 Olympic Games on his way to a gold medal), Kelson Pinto and Francisco Bojado. Who knows how most

of these guys will turn out ‹ most 'prospects' are really suspects until proven otherwise. But rest assured, the 140-pound division won't become the cruiserweight division anytime soon.

REMEMBER HIM?

Oh yeah, speaking of suspects, Hector Camacho Jr. was back in action with a first round stoppage of journeyman Fred Ladd.

Nice to see that Junior's handlers aren't rushing him to a real fight or anything like that. They'd hate to see him exposed (again) so soon I guess.

PROSPECT?

The last bout on this past Telefutura broadcast featured a tall and lean Brazilian jr. middleweight prospect by the name of Arshak Ter-Melik. His moniker is 'the Shack Attack' and while the real Shaquille O'Neal was making his season debut across the country for the Lakers, the Ter-Melik was making his televised debut in this country.

And 'the Shack Attack', who looks a lot like R&B singer John B., has one of those bodies that is built like a stick of dynamite -- and like a Thomas Hearns or Bob Foster, has explosive power. He would blow out Andres Larrinaga in 31 seconds in scary fashion. He improves now to 3-0 and based on this performance you'd have to be intrigued by the possibilities.

But again, he's fought very soft opposition and very little is known about Ter-Melik except that he can really punch against over-matched, hand-picked opposition. But again, I would like to see more.