MONTREAL – Welterweight champion Arturo Gatti never read his boxing contracts before signing them. Did he read the will he signed three weeks before his mysterious death?
And having dropped out of school in Grade 8, did the boxer understand that he was leaving everything to his Brazilian wife?
That seemed to be the argument Gatti’s family was pursuing Friday to try and have the will he signed, along with a million-dollar “fidelity promise” to his wife, annulled.
Antonio Rizzo, a childhood friend with whom Gatti went into business after he retired from boxing in 2007, testified Friday that Gatti rarely if ever read any of his contracts.
He also repeated that Gatti was adamant about not wanting to leave his $6 million estate to his wife, Amanda Rodrigues, from whom he was seeking a divorce.
But with Rizzo under cross-examination Friday, Rodrigues’ lawyer began to poke holes in the portrayal of Gatti as a husband abused, manipulated and finally estranged from his foul-mouthed wife.
In the six months before his death, Gatti was staying, off and on, in his mother’s basement, Rizzo testified.
But he took long trips with his wife to Europe, Mexico and Panama, before his fateful trip to meet her in Brazil, the court was told.
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Pierre-Hugues Fortin, Rodrigues’ lawyer, also tried to debunk the idea that it was his client who was violent toward her husband.
On March 24, 2009, Gatti was arrested and charged with domestic violence.
“(Rodrigues) was the one who called the police?” Fortin asked.
“Yes,” replied Rizzo.
Gatti was released on bail with strict conditions not to drink and not to communicate with Rodrigues.
Less than three weeks later, Gatti was re-arrested for breaking those conditions. He was found drinking at Chez Pare, a strip bar, on the night of his birthday.
Then there was the incident the day of Gatti’s death in Brazil, July 11, 2009. Gatti allegedly hit Rodrigues before numerous witnesses, an incident she later reported to the press.
“Do you believe he beat her in front of many people?” Fortin asked Rizzo.
“I don’t believe he was violent toward her,” Rizzo replied. “I don’t know what happened that night. He was so patient, very patient with her.”
Gatti was found dead hours later, in a vacation home in Brazil, with a purse string near his body. Authorities, after arresting Rodrigues and jailing her for 18 days, ruled it was a suicide – Gatti hung himself, they concluded.
But the Gatti family doesn’t believe that version of events, and Gatti’s former manager commissioned a new investigation by experts in the U.S. On Wednesday, they released a 300-page report concluding that it was not suicide: Gatti was hit over the head, then strangled.
Brazilian prosecutors said Friday they would study certain elements of the new investigation. The case was never closed per se, they said. But police in Brazil, though willing to re-examine the case, stood by their initial conclusions. Rodrigues is not a suspect, they said.
Back in Montreal, Rodrigues, who has been frantically writing notes to her lawyer since the trial began, finally spoke to the press, saying she’s eager to get her chance to testify as to what really happened between her and her late husband.
“I just believe the truth somehow is coming out,” Rodrigues said. “And I have faith and I think justice always (wins) in the end. So I’m sure the end is going to be good for me, I think I deserve it.”
Rodrigues also said she couldn’t understand why Gatti’s family and friends have been maligning her.
“I think they are in pain, and I’m in pain, too. But I don’t understand why they want to sit there and try to humiliate me.
I don’t think it’s necessary… Today is my son’s (third) birthday and I have to be here – I wish I was with Junior right now. Hopefully it’ll end soon and I’ll be able to be with him.”
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