[Boxing] Arturo Gatti has been found dead

[Rappy Veteran]

Former champion Arturo Gatti has been found dead in northeastern Brazil on Saturday, several media outlets are reporting.

Gatti, 37, was on a second honeymoon with his wife and 10-month-old baby, the CBC reported. Gatti's blood-stained body was found in an apartment in Porto de Galinhas, Brazilian police say.

A police investigation is underway and foul play is suspected, the CBC reported.

Gatti was found in his underwear, with blood stains on his neck and the back of his head around 6 a.m. Saturday morning, the CBC reported.

Gatti, who was raied in Montreal, was one of the most successful Canadian boxers in history. He started his professional career in 1991 at age 19.

He won the United States Boxing Association junior lightweight title and successfully defended it twice and International Boxing Federation's world junior lightweight title.

Gatti (40-9, 31 KOs) was best known for his all-action style, which was epitomized in his classic trilogy with Micky Ward in 2002 and 2003.

It's why Gatti was a fixture at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., where he drew huge crowds and fought many times, including the final nine fights of his career.

In his first fight after the Ward trilogy -- which Gatti won 2-1 -- he captured a world title in his second division, outpointing Gianluca Branco for the vacant WBC junior welterweight title.

Gatti made two defenses before losing it to Floyd Mayweather Jr. via sixth-round TKO in June 2005. He returned to defeat Thomas Damgaard but lost his final two bouts, a ninth-round TKO in a challenge to then-welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir in July 2006 followed by a one-sided beating from former "Contender" star Alfonso Gomez in July 2007.

In the dressing room following the seventh-round knockout loss to Gomez, Gatti announced his retirement.

He had been working in real estate in Montreal following his retirement, but still attended fights, as he did in April for the Timothy Bradley-Kendall Hold junior welterweight unification bout at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Source

RIP

[rajputwarrior]

:( gatti definitely one of my all time faves.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Man I just heard about this somehow, was obviously out of the loop, and now they are saying his wife is the main suspect but that she was also battered, so now have mixed emotions on this. I loved Gatti as a fighter, and hopefully he did not beat his wife, but is sounding like that might have been the case indeed. Either way great fighter, and sad he had to go out so young.

[Konstanov]

Poor guy, no cameo in the new Christian Bale movie I guess.

[Rappy Veteran]

The former world boxing champion Arturo Gatti killed himself and was not murdered, say Brazilian investigators.

Mr Gatti was found on 11 July, in a hotel in north-eastern Brazil where he had been staying with his wife and son.

Shortly afterwards, his wife, Amanda Rodrigues, was arrested on suspicion of strangling Mr Gatti with the strap from her handbag.

A court has now ordered her release after the investigation found that Mr Gatti probably hanged himself.

Police at the time had said there were inconsistencies in the statement Ms Rodrigues gave to them and that she had not explained how she stayed in the hotel room for 10 hours after he died.

Her lawyer, Celio Avelino, said it "would have been impossible for her to suspend and hang a man of that size".

Mr Gatti was IBF super-featherweight champion in 1995 and WBC light-welterweight champion in 2004, and retired in 2007.

Gatti's career spanned 49 fights and he won 40 of them, 31 by knockout. He retired two years ago.

[bbc]

[rajputwarrior]

^ that's bs.

who commits suicide by shooting themselves in the back of the head? that makes no sense and he had strangulation marks on his neck. Brazilian authorities are a bunch of retards. Canada asked for another autopsy and it concluded that it may not have been suicide.

The wife all of a sudden becomes executor of the will, gets everything (millions) and then three weeks later he commits suicide... right (Y) (Y)