Police detain wife of Canadian boxing champ Gatti

Montrealer apparently strangled with the strap of purse, police say Jul 12, 2009 11:05 AM star staff and wire services SAO PAULO–The wife of former boxing champion Arturo Gatti was detained as a suspect by Brazilian authorities today following his death at a posh seaside resort. Police said 23-year-old Amanda Rodrigues was taken into custody after contradictions in her interrogation. Gatti's body was found early Saturday in a hotel room at the Porto de Galinhas resort in northeastern Brazil. The former junior welterweight champion from Montreal was apparently strangled with the strap of a purse, which was found at the scene with blood stains, said Milena Saraiva, a spokeswoman for the Pernambuco state civil police. She told Associated Press that Gatti also had a head injury. The investigation was not complete, but Saraiva said authorities were preparing to present a formal accusation against Rodrigues, who denied being involved in her husband's death. Police said Rodrigues, a Brazilian, could not explain how she spent nearly 10 hours in the room without noticing that Gatti was already dead. Police were investigating witness reports that the couple fought and Gatti was drunk when he returned to his room Friday night, Saraiva said, adding that police were told the pair were extremely jealous of each other and that he constantly complained of her clothing when she travelled to Brazil. Acelino "Popo" Freitas, a four-time world champion Brazilian boxer, told Globo TV's website on Saturday that he was a close friend of Gatti and his wife and that he "knew they were having some sort of problem and were about to separate.'' The couple's 1-year-old son, who was unhurt, was with Rodrigues' sister, Saraiva said. The boxing fraternity was stunned by Gatti's death. "He had one of the best careers of any fighter to come out of Canada. He was never in a boring fight," said former World Boxing Organization middleweight champion Otis Grant, a one-time amateur teammate of Gatti's. "He put Montreal boxing on the world stage. He had great fights. Lots of heart and determination. Some of his fights will be remembered forever." Russ Anber, president of Boxing Quebec and a TSN boxing analyst, said the province has suffered a huge loss with Gatti's death. "Montreal is in a state of shock," he said. "He boxed his entire amateur career here in Quebec." Anber said he has fond memories of meeting Gatti when he was a 7-year-old, learning to fight at Montreal's Club de Boxe Olympique. "You could see that he was so adept at what he was doing. He looked like he was a professional at that age. He turned out to be that good." Those closest to Gatti in his hometown of Montreal have been left worrying, and wondering. "It's a very sad day for boxing," said former coach Bernard Barré in an interview. "Arturo was a superstar." Although his win-loss record, 40-9, with 31 knockouts, was "not bad," Barré said, "what really made him special, what sparked fans' excitement, was his courage." "When he fought Ivan Robinson in Atlantic City, I said to those around me, `Arturo is going to get knocked out,'" recalled Stéphan Larouche, who travelled with Gatti as a coach of the Quebec team and the Canadian national team. "Then people stood up, so I had to stand up to see. Then people stood on their chairs, and so I did too, and by the time I was on my chair, he was knocking the guy out!" Even referees seemed to wait a little longer before intervening to stop a fight, Barré said, because they knew there was a better-than-average chance Gatti would get up and fight on. "He was like a phoenix rising from the ashes. You could never count him out." Partly this tendency for drama got him a lucrative contract with HBO, quite a feat, Larouche said, because it happened even as Gatti was no longer a champion. Bernard Daigle was training at Club de Boxe Olympique when he started seeing this 11- or 12-year-old kid running around "being a monster." Gatti would tease all the older boxers like Daigle, pull their pants down to annoy them. He would come in now and then. "He said he was more interested in cycling than boxing." But when he did box, Daigle remembered, "You could see he was good. He had a beautiful jab, and it was easy for him, it was second nature for him." The 5-foot-8 battler held the International Boxing Federation superfeatherweight title and the World Boxing Council light welterweight belt during a career that began in 1991 and ended with his retirement in 2007. Gatti spent nearly all his career in the United States, fighting mostly out of Atlantic City, N.J. His fights were regularly aired by HBO, the top boxing broadcaster. Although he experienced a few minor tangles with the law, Gatti was not known for out-of-the-ring incidents — unlike his former brother-in-law Dave Hilton Jr., who had his WBC supermiddleweight title stripped after he was convicted of sexual assault against his two daughters. Hilton and Anna-Maria Gatti have since divorced. Known as Thunder for the power of his punches, Gatti had an all-out attacking style that led to bloody brawls in the ring. His back-and-forth slugfest with Ivan Robinson in 1998, which Gatti lost by split decision, was among his four bouts named fight of the year by The Ring magazine. After fighting as an amateur in Canada, Gatti followed his older brother Joe to New Jersey to turn pro. While Joe Gatti had a modest career, Arturo was eye-catching from the start. In 1995, he won the IBF title with a 12-round decision over the adopted son of former heavyweight champ Floyd Patterson, Tracy Patterson, whom he also beat in a rematch two years later. He defended that belt three times before moving up in weight class. Gatti had a setback with a pair of losses to the slick Robinson, but re-established himself with three spectacular bouts with (Irish) Micky Ward in 2002 and 2003, with Ward winning the first by majority decision and Gatti taking the next two by unanimous decision. He won the vacant WBC light welterweight title with a win over Gianluca Branco in 2004 and defended it twice, including a second-round knockout of Montreal-based Leonard Dorin with a crushing body punch in Atlantic City. Upon his retirement, Gatti moved back to Montreal, where he was involved in a real estate project. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/664878