NEW YORK -- Arturo Gatti unleashed a furious attack on Joey Gamache and knocked him out in the second round of their junior welterweight fight Saturday night.

The bout, on the undercard of the Oscar De La Hoya-Derrell Coley main event, was totally one-sided. Gatti knocked down Gamache twice in the first round and even nailed Gamache just after the bell sounded.

In the second round, with the crowd chanting the name of one of New York's most popular boxers, Gatti staggered Gamache with a left hook. Then he landed a vicious right uppercut that sent Gamache reeling. A left-right combination sent Gamache the canvas, knocked out cold 41 seconds into the round.

Referee Benjie Estaves immediately signaled the end of the bout and Gamache lay on the floor for seven minutes before ringside doctors allowed him to get up.

"I didn't expect the fight to end that soon," Gatti said. "In the first round, when I hit him to the floor, I knew I was too strong for him."

Gamache was told by one of the four doctors in the ring he was going to be carried out.

"Don't put me on a stretcher," he said. "I want to walk out."

After several more minutes sitting on the floor, he did just that.

Gamache was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital for tests.

Gatti, 27, of Jersey City, N.J., and a former IBF junior lightweight champion, improved to 31-4 with 26 knockouts. He was in control from the opening bell in just his second fight in 14 months.

Gatti said he wants to fight again in April, then seek a title bout in November, possibly against Australia's Kostya Tszyu, the WBC champion.

"I'm stronger than ever," he said.

Gamache, a former WBA champion from Lewiston, Maine, fell to 55-4. The 33-year-old Gamache had won 10 straight fights.

In a plodding 10-rounder, unbeaten heavyweight Lamon Brewster of Los Angeles won a unanimous decision over Richard Mason of Cincinnati. Mason hardly threw any punches as Brewster was content to stand flatfooted and score enough points for his 23rd straight victory.

Tony Marshall earned a unanimous 10-round decision over Ray Domenge in a super welterwight fight.

The best action of the early fights came in a women's four-rounder in which Mia St. John stood toe-to-toe with Kristin Allan in a slugfest. St. John got a majority decision mostly for her strong work in the final round, including a pair of rights that shook Allan.

But in all four rounds, the inexperienced Allan came out aggressively and didn't back down. She simply didn't have the necessary defense to handle St. John, who is 16-0. Allan is 3-1.

"She was a real tough country girl," St. John said. "I outskilled her. She took everything I gave her, but I felt the last round clinched it for me."