KILLED IN BRAZIL?

Amanda Gatti discovered her husband, Arturo, dead on the morning of July 11, 2009. The couple had been staying at a resort in Pernambuco, Brazil, with their infant son, Arturo Junior. As the ex-boxer initially appeared dead by strangulation and there were no signs of a break-in, cops arrested Amanda on suspicion of murder. But they subsequently released her when the autopsy ruled the death a suicide. According to the report, Gatti hanged himself from the staircase using a strap from his wife’s purse. The report further stated he’d hung there for hours before the strap broke and he fell to the floor, where Amanda found him. But members of Gatti’s family and his friends refused to believe he killed himself. The former boxer, who retired two years before, had a reputation for not giving up in fights. He would take scores of punishing hits before coming back in a later round to secure the victory. The Gatti family asked for a second autopsy. Some members of the family filed suit over Gatti’s estate, as his will named Amanda the sole beneficiary. Gatti’s manager, Pat Lynch, hoped to prove that the death was not a suicide by hiring experts to investigate and reconstruct the crime scene. All the while, the feud between members of Gatti’s family and his wife persisted. And what happened to Gatti on that July night may be a question that lingers indefinitely.

Tobin’s debut book delivers a concise, well-researched true-crime story. His sources consist of TV interviews, Associated Press reports, journals, and numerous websites as well as his own interview with Kathy Duva, CEO of the boxing promotion company Main Events. Along with meticulous coverage of the death and its aftermath, the author spotlights much of Gatti’s career, from a title-winning match in 1995 to his final fight in 2007. Tobin’s kinetic descriptions of Gatti’s matches are akin to action scenes: “Ruelas saw his chance and snapped a series of uppercuts into Gatti’s chin, the last of which spun Gatti’s head. Wobbled, Gatti backed away with Ruelas in pursuit. But true to form, Gatti sought only enough room to answer back.” Despite the favorable recounting of Gatti and his boxing days, the book unbiasedly provides details on the man’s death. For example, the experts’ investigation uncovered potential flaws in the Brazilian authorities’ probe, like the specific place where Gatti’s body fell. But Tobin notes the problematic aspects of the crime-scene re-creation that do not convincingly point to murder. For good measure, the author addresses chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition stemming from a brain injury and to which boxers are susceptible. With symptoms like substance abuse and suicidal behavior, Gatti may have been affected by CTE. Nevertheless, Tobin astutely looks at the varying possibilities that would have led to Gatti’s death. Such an approach intelligently and respectfully piques interest in a real-life mystery that has left Gatti’s fans and family in need of both solace and satisfactory answers.

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