Experts: Late Boxer Arturo Gatti Was Murdered In 2009, Didn't Commit Suicide

NORTH BERGEN, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Forensic experts say the evidence shows late boxer Arturo Gatti was murdered and didn't commit suicide.

LISTEN: 1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg reports

They presented a report Wednesday gleaned during a 10-month investigation spearheaded by Gatti's former manager Pat Lynch.

The experts that were assembled by Gatti's friends and family, including a world-renowned forensic scientists, pathologists and a retired FBI agent, all came to the same conclusion.

"This was not a suicide hanging, this is a homicide," said noted forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht.

Gatti, a popular former junior welterweight champion, was found dead in an apartment he had rented with his family on the Brazilian seaside in 2009.

But experts said Wednesday Gatti suffered a head injury before being strangled.

"In my opinion, he was attacked by another person that resulted in a blunt force laceration to the back of his head and then he was strangled," said foresic scientist Brent Turvey. "He died in the location where he was at."

Wecht, who investigated the assassinations of both Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., also concluded that the Brazilian autopsy was so bad, it was intentionally botched.

Brazilian police initially considered Gatti's wife a prime suspect. But they ultimately concluded Gatti had hung himself with a handbag strap.

But experts said the strap he allegedly used wasn't strong enough to hold up his body.

Gatti's former promoter Lou DiBella wants the investigation into Gatti's wife reopened.

"Somebody assisted her and at the very least, it seems to be far more than incompetence, it seems to be an effort to cover up a murder," he said.

Wecht also said the position of the body and other evidence shows Gatti was the victim of strangulation.

"We know he was murdered," said Lynch. "Lets find out who did it."

A civil trial over the late boxer's estate is proceeding in Canada.

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