ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Arturo Gatti’s last waltz into his home away from home resulted in a quick and humbling exit.  However, he’s back and still welcomed with open arms.

Gatti returns to the ring Saturday for the first time since a convincing loss here seven months ago with a stiff welterweight test against undefeated Denmark native Thomas Damgaard at Boardwalk Hall.

A New Jersey native and wildly popular in these parts, Gatti (39-7, 30 KOs) last entered this arena with the state behind him and the WBC light welterweight belt on his waist.  He left six rounds later with a swollen face and little to keep his trunks up while pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. held the title aloft in the ring Gatti had made his own.

Mayweather’s dominant sixth-round TKO sent Gatti back to the drawing board and, despite the punishment and years of heavy-hitting fights before it, the former two-time champion sees a new challenge before him.

“It feels good to be back.  The fight with Floyd Mayweather did not go the way I wanted it to,” said Gatti, who last fought as a welterweight in 2001 when he lost a fifth-round TKO to superstar Oscar De La Hoya. “I am here healthy today and want to thank God for it.  Making 147 pounds is so much easier.

“This is the first time in years that you see a smile on my face before a fight.”

The 33-year-old Gatti has been involved in so many violent clashes in the past, but he has not shown his thunderous attack since a fifth-round KO of Jesse James Leija here a year ago. Those facts, and Damgaard’s abilities, make Gatti’s return to the ring anything but a sure thing.

However, Damgaard (37-0, 27 KOs) never has fought outside his home country and is a stranger to big-name opponents, much less one fighting in his own backyard.  Many observers also feel this is a must-win for Gatti, making the Dane’s first international excursion a challenging one.

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The southpaw Damgaard, who was forced to pull out of a WBA title fight with Jose Antonio Rivera in Worcester, Massachusetts last April due to pneumonia, is used to having plenty of support, but he will have little Saturday.

On the undercard, unbeaten featherweight prospect Jason Litzau (16-0, 14 KOs) of St. Paul, Minnesota meets Mexico’s Carlos Contreras (20-11-3, 13 KOs).  Also, rising American heavyweight B.J. Flores (14-0-1, 10 KOs) meets veteran Jermell Barnes (17-10, 4 KOs), who has lost four straight fights.

The fights will be televised by HBO beginning at 9:45 pm EST.

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