Boxer Arturo Gatti Jr. Dies at Age 17 — His Cause of Death Revealed Days Later

Fans of the late world champion boxer Arturo Gatti were shocked and saddened to learn that his teenage son, Arturo Gatti Jr., recently died after following in his father’s footsteps in the ring.

Now, mere days after Arturo Jr.’s body was found, his apparent cause of death has been released — and the questions surrounding his untimely passing have just begun.

On Wednesday, Oct. 8, 17-year-old Arturo Gatti Jr. was reportedly found dead hanging in an apartment in Mexico, according to the Daily Mail. He was found dead by a neighbor who lived in the same apartment complex the teen boxer shared with his mother, Amanda Rodrigues.

Chuck Zito, who was the long-time bodyguard for Arturo Gatti, initially announced the news of the young boxer’s death via social media.

It's with a heavy heart that I have to say,.... R.I.P. to 17-year-old ARTURO GATTI JR., who was found hanging in an apartment in Mexico yesterday,” he wrote on Instagram. “The same way they found his Father dead in an apartment in Brazil 16 years ago. My condolences to Arturo Gatti Seniors — Mom, Sisters, Brothers, and his daughter Sophia.”

The younger Gatti had started following in his father’s boxing footsteps at the age of 6 and had already had multiple amateur boxing matches under his belt.

'It is unfortunately not a rumor or a joke. Arturo is gone,” his coach, Mike Latif, wrote on social media following the news of his death, per the Daily Mail.

In July 2009, Arturo Gatti was found dead in a hotel in Brazil with his wife, and Arturo Jr.’s mother, Amanda Rodrigues. She was initially charged with Arturo’s murder by Brazilian authorities, who ruled his death a homicide, according to NJ.com.

However, following the autopsy report from the coroner, his death was confirmed as a suicide by hanging, and the charges against Amanda were dropped.

"The police investigation concluded that Arturo killed himself," Celio Avelino, Amanda’s attorney, said at the time. "I've said before it would have been impossible for her to suspend and hang a man of that size."

Later, it was revealed that he attempted suicide back in 2006, three years prior to his death. Arturo was 37 at the time of his death, and his young son was just 10 months old.

Arturo’s family was not convinced that he committed suicide and stood firm for years that he was murdered. In 2011, a coroner agreed to exhuming his body to perform a second autopsy, which ruled out foul play, according to CBC News.

"The conclusion of the Montreal pathologists to the effect that there is no clear evidence of foul play in Mr. Gatti's death means I cannot dismiss the formal conclusions reached by the authorities of the country where it occurred," the coroner said at the time.

"The methods used by the Brazilian investigators in examining the scene of Arturo Gatti's death can raise doubts, and so the [coroner] believes that the circumstances of death cannot be determined with certainty," they continued.