ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Arturo Gatti got his revenge, and it was sweet. Micky Ward lost, but won points with his fans -- and maybe another rematch -- with his steel chin and plucky endurance.

	Arturo Gatti took control early, sending Micky Ward off balance before this left in the second round.

The two junior welterweights, who staged one of the best fights of the year last May, laced them up again Saturday, with Gatti avenging his defeat with a unanimous 10-round decision over the 37-year-old steamroller operator.

''It's one to one, and I wouldn't mind a third,'' said Gatti (35-6), who fought one of his best fights in years.

Gatti, 30, of Jersey City, N.J., scored the fight's big punch in the third round, when he clubbed Ward with an overhand right that knocked him to his knees.

He fell forward until his face hit the turnbuckle, and he was never the same.

Gatti seized the opportunity. Sticking and moving, with spring in his step and power in his punches, he chose his spots carefully, waiting until Ward (38-12) was vulnerable and then teeing off on him with two- and three-punch combinations.

The fight, a rematch of a May 18 bout won by Ward in a majority decision, was held at 142 pounds -- two pounds over the weight class limit -- by mutual agreement of the fighters.

From the start, it featured the same no-holds-barred style. Ward broke from his corner and missed with a wild roundhouse right and the fight was on.

The first two rounds were even, but after the third round knockdown, it was all Gatti.

Fighting in front of a partisan home-state crowd of 12,238 in the Boardwalk Hall, his scoring triggered choruses of ''Gat-ti! Gat-ti! Gat-ti!'' from the crowd.

But he took his lumps. His left eye was swollen shut by the eighth round and he had a small cut on his right cheekbone.

Ward could do no right after the knockdown. He was rubber-legged and weak, although he absorbed knockout punch after knockout punch from Gatti without going down.

Ward made $1.5 million, Gatti $1.2 million. What's more, they set the stage for a third showdown.

''I boxed the way I was supposed to in the first fight. I didn't lose my energy like I did in the first fight,'' Gatti said.

Ward, who quit boxing in 1991 because he was so discouraged, knew he lost this one.

''He fought a great fight, he was the better man,'' he said.

Of the knockdown, he said: ''He caught me behind the ear and it threw my equilibrium off.''

The scores were 98-91, 98-91 and 98-90 for Gatti, a former junior lightweight champion known for rallying to victory when he looks like he's ready for the emergency room.

On numerous occasions Saturday, he bent at the waist as Ward threw punches at him and then responded with uppercuts and jabs.

''We worked on that in practice, staying low and then coming up to hit the body,'' Gatti said. ''Ward stands there with his hands up like two pillows in front of his face and I have to pick my shots.''