Arturo Gatti Jr: Son of legendary boxer found dead aged 17 in Mexico apartment - years after father's mysterious death

Just over 16 years since his father's mysterious death, Arturo Jr passed away in the North American country on Tuesday, it has been announced. According to French-speaking Canadian network TVA Nouvelles, the teenager was in Mexico with his mother, Amanda Rodrigues, before his shock passing.

He was reportedly found dead by a neighbor. Chuck Zito, who served as close friend Gatti's bodyguard throughout his career, was first to share the devastating news on Wednesday.

He wrote on Instagram: “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. 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.” It is currently unclear if foul play is suspected.

Arturo Jr was aiming to follow in his dad's footsteps and carve out a boxing career of his own before his death. He first laced up a pair of gloves at the age of six and went on to enjoy several amateur bouts, with his long-time coach Moe Latif reportedly due to head out to Mexico this week. The young prodigy, who shared a close relationship with Mike Tyson, was expected to one day turn professional.

His dad Arturo Sr, the former two-weight world champion who shared arguably the greatest boxing trilogy of all time with great rival Micky Ward, was found dead while on vacation with his son and wife Amanda back in July 2009. Gatti's body was discovered in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor of a condo they had rented in the northeastern resort town Porto de Galinhas, with his head partially under a counter and a small purse strap nearby.

He was battered and bruised on his body and had a deep ligature mark beneath his chin, with his tongue left hanging from his discolored face and his right ear engorged. He also had a three-centimeter-long gash crusted with coagulated blood on the back of his head.

Rodrigues was arrested on suspicion of murder 24 hours after she claimed to have discovered his body. She was eventually released from prison 18 days later as authorities ultimately ruled it as suicide by hanging.

Many of Gatti's close family and friends still refuse to buy into the theory that he died by suicide. An initial toxicology report carried out by Brazilian officials showed no drug activity in his body, while there was no evidence of late-stage chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head.

When authorities concluded that Rodrigues was not involved in her husband’s death, Gatti's former manager and confidante Pat Lynch - whom he considered a 'surrogate father' - sought the help of a powerful team of private investigators, law enforcement and medical experts to get to the bottom of what truly happened on July 11.

In September 2011, the team made their report public after concluding that he was 'rendered unconscious with an unknown object, and then manually strangled with the purse strap or a similar device.'

'Death would have been by ligature strangulation, with blunt force head injury,' their closing argument read. 'Amanda Gatti, either alone or with assistance from an unknown person or persons, had the opportunity, means and motive to murder her husband.'

The investigators also revealed that Gatti had signed a new life-insurance policy which left his entire $3.4million fortune to his wife and her family just one month before his death, despite telling those closest to him that he was planning to file for divorce and end a marriage they said had become truly toxic. Rodrigues was believed to be present when the policy was changed.

Yet two months after they released their findings, a Quebec coroner ruled there was no 'hard evidence' that Gatti's death was caused by 'foul play' or suicide after a separate investigation was carried out by Montreal pathologists.

The coroner, Jean Brochu, said initial missteps from the Brazilian authorities made it too difficult to conclude with absolute certainty what happened on the night of July 11, 2009, despite stating that Gatti had died a 'violent death.' The probable cause of death was listed as asphyxiation by neck constriction.

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