The Italian-born Gatti, a longtime New Jersey resident, became bigger than ever following his thrilling trilogy against Massachusetts’ Micky Ward in 2002 and 2003. Their last two junior welterweight brawls, 10-round fights that Gatti won by unanimous decision, started an incredible run of nine straight Gatti fights that drew capacity crowds in excess of 11,000 to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City from November 2002-July 2007.

Gatti lost three of his final four fights there from 2005-2007, but his loyal legion of supporters didn’t care. They kept coming back because Gatti gave fight fans as much entertainment value for their money as humanly possible.

Often with swollen skin and nasty gashes around his eyes, Gatti’s incomparable courage, inconceivable recuperative powers and countless comebacks made wins and losses almost meaningless. Gatti (40-9, 31 KOs) continually delivered drama that made him must-see TV on HBO, which televised 21 Gatti fights from 1995-2007, despite that the gutsy slugger from Montreal was never considered one of the top pound-for-pound boxers in the sport.

Nearly 11 years later, Ivan Robinson remains amazed that Gatti withstood all those punches he landed in their August 1998 fight in Atlantic City. Philadelphia’s Robinson won that highlight-filled fight by split decision and it was later named “Fight of the Year” by The Ring magazine. Both of their 10-round fights in Atlantic City were re-broadcast Sunday night by ESPN Classic as a tribute to Gatti, whom police in Brazil believe was murdered by his wife, Amanda Rodrigues, a 23-year-old former stripper, on Saturday in Porto de Galihnas, Brazil.

“For a fighter like Arturo Gatti to die like this, it’s devastating,” Robinson said. “It’s crushing. Of course you want to think back about [the two fights] we had down in Atlantic City, but it goes beyond that. The respect I had for him, the love that I had for him, I can’t even put it into words. He was a tremendous person, as well as a tremendous fighter.

“His recuperative powers were like Superman over kryptonite. When you thought you had him done, that’s when he was at his best. People will remember him as boxing’s highlight guy. When you thought he was out, he wasn’t. That’s when he came back. I can’t say enough good things about him.”

Gatti’s critics suspected his career was virtually over after Gatti lost a unanimous decision to Robinson in their 10-round rematch in December 1998. He won four straight bouts thereafter, though, including his infamous fight against Joey Gamache at Madison Square Garden in February 2000 and his bloody battle against Joe Hutchinson in September 2000 in Montreal.

His winning streak earned Gatti what was perceived to be a parting gift from HBO for all those unforgettable fights, a $1.8 million payday for facing Oscar De La Hoya at welterweight. De La Hoya stopped Gatti in the fifth round, but Gatti re-invented himself yet again by moving back down to junior welterweight. A fourth-round TKO defeat of former champion Terron Millett moved Gatti into his first fight against Ward in May 2002, a classic clash that immortalized opponents who became close friends because they had so much respect for each other.

“He was a great guy,” Ward told the New York Daily News. “He enjoyed life. People don’t understand how two guys who beat the heck out of each other could become friends, but that’s what happened. He was the heart and soul of boxing. I’m going to miss him.”

Gatti and Ward often played golf and spent time together at charity events following their third fight.

They partied plenty together, too, as Gatti was known to do with or without Ward. Gatti’s fast lifestyle outside the ring was almost as legendary as so many of his fights became inside it.

Drug and alcohol abuse, as well as various volatile relationships with women, were constant causes for concern among the people who loved him.

“I always worried something was going to happen to him in the ring, and it never did,” said Carl Moretti, who worked for Main Events during most of Gatti’s career. “But Pat Lynch (Gatti’s career-long manager) and I used to say the safest place for him was in the ring, just because of his lifestyle. We always felt relieved when we had the date from HBO, knew who the opponent was and he went off to camp. Because it was rare that he would screw up in camp.

“He would go to camp for three months, with conditioning and then boxing. Then he’d get in the ring and go toe-to-toe with guys in fights of the year, and we always said that was the safest place for him. He was in an environment where, in a way, beating the heck out of each other was his way of escaping what was going on outside the ring.”

Gatti married Rodrigues in August 2007, once he retired in the aftermath of a seventh-round technical knockout defeat to Alfonso Gomez. They lived together in New Jersey, but later moved to Montreal, where Gatti made numerous real estate investments with some of the nearly $30 million he earned during his boxing career.

He most recently attended the Timothy Bradley-Kendall Holt junior welterweight championship unification fight on April 4 at Bell Centre in Montreal. Gatti sat ringside, alongside Rodrigues, and cheered wildly for Holt, whom Gatti knew since they trained at the same Paterson, N.J., boxing gym in the early 1990s.

The unassuming Gatti was besieged by fans seeking autographs and photographs throughout the night, much the way he was whenever he was in Atlantic City.

“Arturo was a living legend and he didn’t seem to understand why,” Duva said. “I think it was after the (Carlos) Baldomir (loss), and we were walking through the casino when it was over and we were all sad, obviously. And somebody walked up to him and congratulated him. He looked at me and said, ‘What did he congratulate me for?’ I said, ‘He loves you. Don’t you understand? This guy is going to tell his grandkids that he met you, that he shook your hand. Understand how important that is.’ And he really didn’t.

“That’s part of why he never had an ego, never was full of himself, always was considerate, thoughtful and sweet in his own way. He called me every Christmas morning. He was unlike any fighter I’ve ever known.”

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record, of Hackensack, N.J., and the Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J.