The boxing community has always been a very tight one, much closer than people might imagine.
One might think that the world of pugilism would only encourage antagonistic and ballistic feelings. But it’s so far from the case.
Boxers always come to the defense of fellow boxers. Trainers, promoters, managers, even writers, they’re all part of the boxing family. You enter the boxing family, you’re a member for life. It’s the way it is.
In 2005, this reporter got to learn first-hand just how close and compassionate the members of the boxing family are for one another after the book, “Braddock: The Rise of the Cinderella Man,” was published.
It was quite evident how everyone in the local boxing community truly cared for one another, by the way they all embraced the author and welcomed him into their homes, their lives, their families.
Before the book was published, I was a sportswriter who every so often wrote about boxing. After the book was released, the boxing family opened its collective arms, from the old-timers to the up-and-comers, and presented a warm, lasting embrace.
That was the obvious sentiment and predominant aura of the memorial Mass that was held last Thursday night in Jersey City for fallen local boxing hero Arturo Gatti.
More than 1,000 people filled St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church on Kennedy Blvd. in Jersey City to attend the local services for the former two-time world boxing champion.
Some of the people in attendance included Academy Award-nominated actor Mickey Rourke, famed actor-stunt man Chuck Zito and a host of famed former boxing champions, including Chuck Wepner, Mark Breland, Bobby Czyz, and current IBF world cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek, who resides in Jersey City.
Incredibly, the memorial mass was held on the same day that Brazilian authorities ruled that Gatti’s death on July 11 was officially determined to be a suicide.
According to Associated Press, Brazilian police said Thursday that an investigation determined that Gatti hung himself. A Brazilian judge then ordered the release of Amanda Rodrigues, Gatti’s 23-year-old wife, who was being held until Thursday on charges that she killed her 37-year-old husband, who had called Hoboken, Weehawken and mostly Jersey City his home during his boxing heyday.
The news that Gatti’s death was ruled a suicide did not sit well with the people who attended the services.
“Arturo Gatti lived with passion and fought with passion,” said Lou DiBella, a boxing promoter and matchmaker who helped to arrange some of Gatti’s best bouts. DiBella was one of three speakers who delivered eulogies after the services were completed.
“Arturo Gatti loved life and everyone here knows that he loved life,” DiBella said. “He never quit once in his life and he didn’t quit in Brazil either. We can hope and pray that justice will prevail and we can find out the truth of what really happened to our friend.”
Czyz, a New Jersey native and three-time former world champ, also disputed the reports of Gatti’s alleged suicide.
“I think you can tell by the way he fought that he wasn’t one who was going to ever quit,” Czyz said. “Suffice it to say that I don’t believe what I heard today. It’s very difficult to believe, especially by the way Arturo lived and the way he fought. I know he wouldn’t have ended it that way. No way is it true.”
In bizarre turn of events, the Brazilian police initially said that Gatti was allegedly drunk and was found dead face down in bed with marks on his neck and a wound to the back of the head, probably caused by a blunt object.
The Brazilian police believed that Rodrigues, a native of Brazil who lived in Union City and worked as an exotic dancer at the Squeeze Lounge in Weehawken when she met the local boxing hero, allegedly strangled Gatti to death by using the strap of her purse.
However, that story changed dramatically Thursday – on the same day of his local solemn tribute.
On Thursday, the police released a statement that said Gatti was in fact found “suspended and hanged” seven feet off the ground, from a staircase.
Police issued no other details of the death last Thursday, making the strange series of events even murkier and darker.
Mike Skowronski was perhaps Gatti’s closest friend. The Jersey City native worked in Gatti’s corner for many of his fights and the two were inseparable.
“I heard the news that it was being called a suicide before it got out to the press,” Skowronski said. “And I think it’s disgusting. It’s just a shame. I know Arturo, and suicide was the last thing in his mind. I feel sorry for the people who truly loved him, like his Mom, his brother and sisters. It’s just so sad.
Added Skowronski, “Arturo is the kind of guy who would be fighting until the end, not the guy who would have given in. It’s just not him. Suicide is so far from the truth. It’s unthinkable that a fighter like him would have committed suicide.”
Maybe Gatti really didn’t kill himself…
North Bergen lost a true legend this week, when long-time baseball and football coach Larry Antonietti died after suffering a massive heart attack. Antonietti was 69 years old.
For more than 20 years, Antonietti was a major fixture in both North Bergen Recreation baseball and football. He was the league director for Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Connie Mack baseball and coached an amazing 27 different champions. He started coaching in 1972 and remained active until he suffered a stroke in 1998 and also had to retire from the North Bergen Sanitation Department at the same time.
Antonietti also coached in the North Bergen Pop Warner football league. — Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.