Photos: Murdered Boxing Champ Arturo Gatti Remembered

By: Neil Katz
Topics: Photos

(AP Photo/Clemilson Campos/JC Imagem)

Arturo Gatti's wife Amanda Rodrigues was arrested in Brazil July 12, 2009 for Gatti's murder.

Slide Show: Murdered Champ Remembered

NEW YORK (CBS) Boxing champion Arturo Gatti was known as a tough-as-nails fighter, who would not back down from a challenge. He rose to win the WBC junior welterweight title in 2004 and fought three stunning smash-mouth battles against Micky Ward, a series of fights that some have called the best of the 2000s. Ward would later become a good friend.

His take-no-prisoners style made him a hometown favorite in Italy - his native land, Montreal - the city where he grew up, and Jersey City, N.J. - the town he spent most of his adult life.

But Gatti's world came crashing down July 11. He was murdered while he slept at a posh Brazilian resort. He was there with his wife, Amanda Rodrigues, whom he had once met while she was dancing at a Brazilian strip club. They have a 1-year-old child.

Brazilian police now say Rodrigues killed her husband. They say she was unable to explain a more than 10-hour span in which she did not notice her dead husband in the hotel room they shared. Rodrigues is now in custody.

Crimesider takes a look back at the slain champion's life.

Slide Show: Murdered Champ Remembered

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