Gatti Wins Latest Battle and a Title

It lacked the drama of his battles with Micky Ward, but Arturo Gatti won more than respect Saturday, hammering out a 12-round decision over Gianluca Branco to win the World Boxing Council junior-welterweight title.

Fighting with an injured hand for most of the night, Gatti (37-6) scored a 10th-round knockdown and handed the Italian champion his first loss before a home-state crowd of 11,237.

Gatti, of Jersey City, was coming off three consecutive fights against Micky Ward, the last a June 2003 victory. He said before the Branco fight that after those, none could compare.

Branco, 33, of Civitavecchia, Italy, wasn’t Ward, but he was better. Effectively counterpunching whenever Gatti moved in, Branco (32-1-1) neutralized Gatti’s power punches and scored repeatedly with left jabs to the head in the early rounds.

The WBC’s top-ranked challenger, who had never fought in the United States, had fought outside Italy only once. But he gave Gatti all he could handle through 10 rounds Saturday.