GATTI FAMILY TO EXHUME BODY FOR SECOND AUTOPSY
Friends and family of former Montreal boxing champion Arturo Gatti refuse to believe he committed suicide.
His brother said Thursday the family will ask to have his remains exhumed so a Quebec coroner can perform another autopsy.
Gatti's body was found in a Brazilian hotel room earlier this month. His widow, Amanda Rodrigues, 23, was detained for nearly three weeks on suspicion of murder.
But on Thursday, state court Judge Ildete Verissimo de Lima in the city of Recife ordered that Rodrigues be released immediately .
"The victim ... committed suicide by hanging," Lima's ruling read, referring to the findings of a police investigation.
Arturo's brother, Joe Gatti, said he's stunned that she's been exonerated.
'It's a Third World country'
"It's a Third World country. It is hard — they got their own rules. We can't take her into our country, into Canada, and indict her there, or try her there. But come on!" he said.
Gatti family friend Ivano Scarpa said the release of Gatti's widow in Brazil will impede the effort to bring Gatti's son, 10-month-old Arturo Jr., back to Canada.
"It's going to be a lengthy process. Obviously the fact that she's out, walking, doesn't help the family here," he said.
Scarpa said he hopes the results of a Canadian autopsy would support the Gatti family's claim for custody of the boy.
Nobody in boxing world thinks Gatti killed himself
Former boxing champion Otis Grant said he doesn't have much faith in the results of the investigation in Brazil.
"I can tell you for a fact that the Arturo that everybody knew was a guy that loved his friends, loved his family, loved being who he was. So, for him to commit suicide just doesn't make sense," Grant said.
Grant says nobody he's spoken to in the boxing world believes Gatti killed himself.
"He was someone who brought a great credibility to this city. And as far as I'm concerned, his legacy as a boxer is cemented in history as one of the greatest, one of the most exciting fighters that ever put on a pair of boxing gloves."