It was beautiful and painful to watch at the same time. On the one hand, you had the popular HBO warrior and likeable personality receiving a vicious beating in front of his hometown crowd. On the other hand, you had the man who beat him, the villain in this staged drama, put on a boxing clinic nothing short of a masterpiece.

In front of over 12,000 die-hard Arturo Gatti fans at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, Floyd Mayweather Jr. made good on his word by outboxing, outpunching, and outclassing Arturo Gatti for the WBC 140-pound title on his way to a 6th round TKO win. Mayweather was so impressive in using effective aggression and ripping Gatti with every combination in the book that it would be an understatement to say he embarrassed the 32-year-old warrior. They say lightning never strikes twice in the same place, but tonight it did - all over Gatti's face.

Taking a page out of Oscar De La Hoya's book when he fought Fernando Vargas in a fight he deemed to be "personal", Mayweather, 27, entered the ring to Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" while being carried by Roman centurions. Gatti entered alone and hastily made his way to the ring to face the man he'd come to despise over the past few months.

Mayweather, 34-0 (23), surprised many by sticking to his word, staying mostly flat-footed and taking the fight to Gatti right from the start, dazzling with his speed and lightning-quick reflexes. Taking advantage of a moment in the 1st round when Gatti was waiting for the referee to break the two, Mayweather landed a left hook that buckled Gatti into the ropes and got Mayweather a 10-8 round.

By round 2, Gatti looked tentative, and it was already apparent that he had neither the speed, skill, or agility to hang with Mayweather. "Pretty Boy" pelted Gatti with four, five, and six-punch combinations, frequently gaining angles and landing double short right hands to Gatti's face. Floyd was in the zone, and Gatti couldn't weather the storm. It was another 10-8 round.

Gatti, 39-7 (30), his left eye beginning to swell, had no answer for Mayweather's accurate punching. He tried to keep his chin tucked behind his left shoulder but Mayweather hit him no matter what he did. The normally busy Gatti was so discouraged that he hardly threw more than two punches at a time, and the few times he had Mayweather against the ropes he did nothing but allow the slick defensive artist to sneak his way out of trouble.

By round 6, Gatti took such a one-sided beating that it appeared he was going to get stopped. When he went back to his corner, he was in obvious pain, and a compassionate Buddy McGirt decided that his brave warrior had had enough. Gatti's left eye was completely shut.

For Mayweather, it was a spell-binding performance, a definitive victory, and the biggest payday of his career. But wathcing Mayweather's reaction after the fight, one wonders if he regrets his trash-talking and his behaviour leading up to the fight. Sure, he gave Gatti praise and said his disrespect was just to sell the fight, but those are the words of a fighter who usually finds himself at odds with his former actions. As Gatti played with Mayweather's son while the new champ was being interviewed by HBO's Larry Merchant, maybe Mayweather felt embarrassed that he had disrespected a man so loved and admired by those who had come to watch him perform. And maybe if had acted more humble the pro-Gatti crowd would have given Floyd a thunderous ovation in appreciation of the show he put on. It's one thing to be confident and use strong language to hype a fight; it's another to use bad taste in disrespecting your opponent and trying to humiliate him.

Maybe Arturo Gatti is just a glorified club fighter. And maybe Mayweather had a right to complain that he couldn't land on HBO pay-per-view while a lesser-skilled fighter like Gatti is treated like royalty by the network. But maybe Mayweather also finally sees that sometimes heart, modesty, and a likeable personality trumps arrogance and ego. Maybe Floyd Mayweather Jr. needs a lesson in humility.

He certainly doesn't need one in boxing.

Kronk Gym suffered another blow as up-and-comer "Vicious" Vivian Harris was knocked out by Miguel Cotto-victim Carlos Maussa with a single left hook in the 7th round of the undercard. Harris, 26-2 (18), who often complained of being ducked by Mayweather, Cotto, and Kostya Tszyu, came out firing the same 1-2 combination in attempt to garner a 1st round knockout and look impressive on HBO. Instead, he ran out of steam and the sloppy, technically moribund Maussa, 18-2 (16), got to him and threw a left hook as Harris threw his own. Harris landed his - but Maussa's was harder - and the native of Guyana was sent hurtling to the canvas, his dream of scoring a big money fight all but vanishing into thin air; and his claim of being the most feared fighter in his division made laughable.

Now THAT's embarrassing.