Gatti-Ward III! Is that how I am supposed to begin my column this week? Everyone certainly seems very excited about this fight, and not without good reason. Thirteen months ago Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti faced each other for the first time. They produced the Fight of the Year, won by Ward on a close decision. The fight was a classic contest of brute strength and intestinal fortitude.

Six months later, Gatti dominated Ward in their rematch. Micky fought bravely, and even historically heroically, but he was totally outclassed. Gatti pitched a virtual shutout and won a lopsided decision.

After their first fight a rematch was inevitable. After their rematch, a rubbermatch is unnecessary. Gatti left no doubt about his superiority last time, and more importantly, Ward took a frightful beating. Yet a third fight will happen this upcoming Saturday night.

Look, Micky Ward has a chance to win any fight because he has a great chin, an iron will and legitimate one-punch power with his left hook to the body. After a long, tough career, he deserves to cash in on the popularity of his first battle with Gatti. Micky has said that this will be his last fight and that he is aware of the long term physical toll boxing is taking on him. But Micky Ward will always fight until his last ounce of strength, and he is getting right back in with a guy who just gave him a bad beating.

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Did you catch the first installment of Tuesday Night Fights this last Tuesday? If you did, was it as good as I heard it was? Fast as I rushed home from taping a segment on Carson Daly's late night talk show, I just could not get in front of a television in time to catch TNF (the Carson Daly segment will likely air sometime next week). Soon as I got home I turned on the TV and they were already covering tennis on ESPN2.

Joe Tessitore, the new blow-by-blow ringside announcer for both our Friday and Tuesday Night fights series, left me a message Tuesday early afternoon: "Max, we just landed Muhammad Abdullaev for the show tonight, and get this - he's in against Emmanuel Clottey! And get this: they're the prelim!"

Like me (and most of you since you are reading this), Joe is a real boxing geek. Until Tuesday night, Abdullaev was considered by many the best of the amateur class of 2000. He was the Olympic lightweight gold medalist and remained undefeated as a pro longer than Ricardo Williams, whom he had beaten for the gold. So Joe was understandably excited about having Abdullaev on the card, especially since Clottey was the opponent.

I called a Clottey fight from ringside in Tuesday Night Fight's inaugural season two years ago. To be precise, it was really an Ebo Elder fight. Truth is, Clottey serves as a trial horse for young up-and-comers, and is more a litmus test than a threat to the better, young, 140-something-pounders of the world. But still, Clottey is tough and not without skill, and after this last Tuesday night, he owns a knockout win over Muhammad Abdullaev.

"Abdullaev could have continued," Joe tells me, but "the problem was that Michael Ortega, the referee, gave a totally discombobulated count that confused Abdullaev. There was also a language barrier between Abdullaev and his trainer Kenny Adams."

"Here's how I see it," Joe tells me, and it's a good thing he does, because as of this moment I have not yet seen it, "Abdullaev might have been winning every round, but they were competitive rounds. If you look at the punch output, Abdullaev went from throwing a hundred punches a round early in the fight to almost half that per round late in the fight.

Late in the 10th and final round, Clottey hurt him with two lefts and put him down with a right. Abdullaev got up immediately and looked over to his trainer Kenny Adams, who signaled for him to take a knee and gather himself. Meanwhile, when Abdullaev went down, Ortega pushed Clottey to a neutral corner and started his count with his back to Abdullaev.

Abdullaev was waiting to pick up Ortega's count, get up off his knee, finish the fight and take home a wide, unanimous decision. Meanwhile Abdullaev couldn't understand what Adams was trying to tell him from the corner, because of the language barrier. By the time Ortega picked up his count in front of the distracted Abdullaev, he called out 8-9-10, and the fight was over."

Could Abdullaev have continued?

"Yes, no brainer. He would have coasted to a unanimous decision. But let's not make it seem as though Clottey does not deserve credit for the win, or that Abdullaev is quite the fighter we though he was coming into this fight."

By the way, in the main event, another undefeated Olympic medallist, Clarence Vinson, also lost!

"A lot of rounds could have gone either way," Joe tells me, "but in the end, Vinson just wasn't busy enough. He made a good spirited effort in the 10th and final round, but it was too little too late."

If you missed all of this, as I did, look for the Tuesday Night Fights re-air later this week.

Max Kellerman is a studio analyst for ESPN2's Friday Night Fights and the host of the show Around The Horn.