Arturo Gatti Jr., son of the former two-weight world champion Arturo Gatti, has died at the age of 17.
The son of the Canadian boxing legend was found dead in an apartment in Mexico this week.
Chuck Zito, an American actor and stuntman, broke the news on Wednesday, which has since been confirmed. Zito was also Gatti Sr.’s bodyguard during his Hall of Fame boxing career.
Zito stated that Gatti Jr. was “found hanging in an apartment in Mexico yesterday … the same way they found his father dead in an apartment in Brazil 16 years ago,” though an official cause of death has yet to be confirmed at the time of this writing. Gatti Jr. was in Mexico with his mother and Gatti Sr.’s widow, Amanda Rodrigues. However, it was a neighbor who discovered his passing.
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The shocking news comes 16 years after Gatti Sr. was similarly found dead, hanged in a Brazilian apartment at the age of 39 in 2009. Gatti Sr.’s death was officially ruled a suicide, although Rodrigues — his wife — was initially suspected of murder but later cleared following an autopsy. Mystery nonetheless persists to this day surrounding the circumstances of the Hall of Fame boxer’s death.
Gatti Sr. was a renowned fan-favorite, an action fighter. He was involved in one of the greatest trilogies of all time, with three epic fights against Mickey Ward back-to-back in the early 2000s. He also shared the ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya in his 49-fight run, falling short on both occasions.
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Gatti Jr. was a promising young boxer in his own right, who hoped to follow in his famous late father’s footsteps.
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