Arturo Gatti Jnr, son of the late boxing champion Arturo Gatti, has died at just 17 years old.
The news began to circulate through social media Wednesday. Moe Latif, who trained the amateur boxer out of the Ring 83 Boxing Club in Montreal, Canada, confirmed the reports on his Instagram account.
“It is unfortunately not a rumor or a joke. Arturo is gone,” wrote Latif, adding: “I’d appreciate if you stop reaching out at this time.”
Gatti family friend Chuck Zito revealed on Instagram that Gatti Jnr died by suicide in Mexico, “the same way they found his Father dead in an apartment in Brazil 16 years ago,” referring to “Thunder” Gatti’s 2009 death that was officially ruled a suicide, though many, including those in Gatti’s inner circle, feel was the result of murder. His wife, Amanda Gatti, had initially been arrested on suspicion of murder before the death was ruled a suicide.
Former world champion Jean Pascal, a Quebec-based boxer who has been a friend of Amanda Gatti, mourned the loss of Arturo Jnr on social media.
“My heart is heavy… life can be unfair sometimes. I’m sending strength, love, and prayers to his family. May he rest in power, like his father a true warrior,” Pascal wrote on the social media platform X.
Gatti Jnr is survived by, among others, his older half-sister, Sofia Bella Gatti, who was among those in attendance when Arturo Gatti Snr was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2013.