Former boxing champion Arturo Gatti, whose epic trilogy with Micky Ward branded him one of the most exciting fighters of his generation, was found dead in a hotel room in the Brazilian seaside resort of Porto de Galihnas early on Saturday.
Police investigator Edilson Alves said that the body of the former junior welterweight champ was discovered in his room at the tourist resort, where Gatti had arrived on Friday with his Brazilian wife Amanda and his young son.
Alves said police were conducting investigations and it was unclear how the 37-year-old Canadian died.
“It is still too early to say anything concrete, although it is all very strange,” Alves said.
A spokeswoman for the state public safety department said Gatti’s wife and son were unhurt. The woman declined to give a name in keeping with department policy.
“There were no bullet or stab wounds on his body, but police did find blood stains on the floor,” she said.
Gatti captured the junior welterweight title in 1995, when he defeated Tracy Harris Patterson in Atlantic City, New Jersey. His brawling style and natural charisma made him a fan favorite, and he became one of New Jersey’s adopted sons while fighting some of his most memorable battles on the Boardwalk.
Gatti defended his title three times before moving up in weight and getting stopped by Angel Manfredy in 1997. He lost twice more before running off four straight wins, setting up a fight against Oscar De La Hoya.
Although Gatti was knocked out his almost cult-like following never wavered in its support.
Gatti would later lose to big names like Floyd Mayweather J. and Carlos Baldomir, but it was his fights against Ward that left an indelible impression on fight fans.
The first time they met, in May 2002, Ward earned the decision in what Ring Magazine called the “Fight of the Year.”
In the rematch Gatti knocked Ward down in the third round with a big right. Ward not only recovered from the blow, which broke Gatti’s hand, but managed to go the distance. This time, Gatti earned a unanimous decision.
Gatti and Ward had their final match in June 2003, and it was again called “Fight of the Year” by Ring Magazine. Ward knocked Gatti to the floor in the sixth round, but despite fighting with his right hand broken again, Gatti won the decision.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier