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.
[+] EnlargeArturo Gatti
AP Photo/Mel EvansArturo Gatti celebrates his win over Thomas Damgaard of Morkov, Denmark in 2006.
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.
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hammerbillsfan likes this.
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He's actually both. Born in Italy but has Canadian citizenship I believe.hammerbillsfan likes this.
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No, you're right.
I just don'y like givig Canada credit for anything that isn't hockey or beer related. :lol:
Anyways, R.I.P.opfinistic and hammerbillsfan like this. -
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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p3bFrP8-HM"]YouTube - Arturo Gatti vs Ward greatest fight of all time inspirationa[/ame]
first&goal and late again like this. -
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****ty.
Is it just me, or are there a bunch of people dying nowadays? -
You are right bro to many good people. Thanks for the vid was awesome.
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Unreal... I couldnt believe it last night when I saw this on tv.. Such a shame.. One hell of a crazy fighter he was. The amount of abuse he would take in a fight, and the amount he would shell out was just incredible... gutsy as hell.
Such a shame..
RIP Gatti...FinSane likes this. -
One of my all-time favorite boxers. I watched all his bouts with Ward. Ill miss him dearly.
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Police accuse Gatti's wife of murder
His 23-year old wife gave contradicting reports to the police. She is currently in custody. Per ESPN, prosecutors have yet to charge her, but police have formally accused her of the crime.
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=4322072&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines -
damn shame
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Police accuse wife in death of boxing champ Gatti
http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slug=ap-gatti-death&prov=ap&type=lgns
Bad week to be a former sports figure and have a crazy wife or girlfriend.opfinistic likes this. -
Like there's ever a good time to have a crazy wife/girlfriend? :pity:
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Merged this thread from the Lounge for the sake of discussion. :)
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Police rule it a suicide
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gz0VQ-0XSa_oW3QYVqEpsAbOLNjQD99OT7E85
So he drunkenly strangled himself with a purse strap?HardKoreXXX and Nappy Roots like this. -
holy ****! i dont think its possible to strangle yourself unless your hanging from something. you would just pass out and your hands would release. this makes no sense! theres something else to the story!
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Amazing. I've head of people killing themselves in an attempt to frame a spouse, but I think it's virtually impossible to do it in the way he did.
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this reminds me of tha tguy that commited suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head............
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I actually studied a case where a woman wrote a note a month before killing herself claiming she was afraid for her life and that her husband was going to kill her. She used a shotgun to shoot herself in the chest.
Luckily forensics, and some holes and oddities in the note proved her husband was innocent.