A Quebec coroner's report into the death of champion boxer Arturo Gatti at a Brazilian resort in 2009 is critical of the original police investigation, but says there is no hard evidence that anyone killed the boxer.
The long-awaited report by Jean Brochu was released Wednesday.
The report is critical of the way Brazilian authorities handled evidence at the scene of Gatti's death and Brochu says that makes it difficult to conclude with certainty what happened.
But an analysis of Gatti's wounds, his blood, and of the events on the night leading up to his death have produced no "clear and hard evidence" that a third party was involved in his death, said the report.
That means the Brazilian authorities' conclusion that Gatti committed suicide remains plausible.
The coroner says that, in his two-decade career, he has often seen family members shocked and unaware that a loved one had suicidal tendencies.
Gatti was a popular junior welterweight champion who retired in 2007 with a career record of 40 wins and nine losses. He was found dead in July 2009 at an apartment he and his family had rented in the Brazilian seaside resort of Porto de Galihnas.
The Gatti family and his friends have steadfastly rejected the suicide conclusion. The family has also become involved in a nasty legal dispute with Gatti's widow over his inheritance.
Amanda Rodrigues, the widow, was originally arrested in connection with Gatti's death. But she was eventually released when an investigation determined suicide was the cause of death.
