Ntsiko arturogatti

Arturo Gatti and Siviwe Ntsiko Shall Not Be Forgotten

 

By Robert Brizel, Real Combat Media

 

New York (February 12,2013)–Siviwe Ntsiko of South Africa and Arturo ‘Thunder’ Gatti of Montreal, Canada, never knew each other. Two years after Gatti’s final bout with Alfonzo Lopez, he was found with bloodstains on his neck and the back of his head after a hanging during his second honeymoon in Porto de Galinhas, Brazil, dead at the age of 37. His new wife, Amanda Rodrigues, was charged with murder after it was alleged Gatti was struck numerous times in the back of the head and then strangled with a purse. A second autopsy concluded Gatti committed suicide by hanging, and murder charges against Gatti’s wife were dropped.

 

The initial Brazilian autopsy stated Gatti had a drug in his system which caused drowsiness, which meant Gatti would have been too sedated to take his own life.  The Brazilian autopsy reports state suicide was accomplished after Gatti placed a purse strap around his neck, the tied it to a wooden staircase over six feet high. The report argued Gatti used a stool to do this, which he stepped off of to complete the process and commit suicide. Arturo Gatti’s friends and family still believe someone murdered a drugged Arturo Gatti . Three weeks before Gatti died, the boxer changed his will and left his six million dollar estate to his wife, including a $1 million payout from a life insurance policy.

 

However, world reknowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden discovered Gatti’s adam’s apple had been fractured in Gatti’s second autopsy in Canada, pointing towards murder. In addition, the neck marks did not match the purse strap. According to Dr. Baden, “This marking around Arturo Gatti’s neck caused by the ‘noose’ is thinner than the (purse strap noose) noose itself, which suggests that there may have been another object that was used, as far as hanging (is concerned).” Homicide was ruled a possibility after the second Gatti autopsy.

 

Overlooked in the Arturo Gatti death were the emotional issues which affect a professional boxer after their career ends. Was their damage to the brain? Did the fighter suffer from depression or other psychological problems? Does the fighter have any physical problems or medical issues? Sadly, no universal worldwide system currently exists to address the needs of retired or injured professional boxers. Four years after the death of Arturo Gatti, a similar tragedy occurred.

 

South African Minimumweight champion Siviwe Ntsiko, 31, surrendered his title after failing a medical examination in April 2012, and hanged himself shortly thereafter. Ntsiko and Gatti never knew each other, but well they should have.

 

Both active and retired boxers must deal with emotional and medical issues which affect both their health and boxing careers at various points. If a monitoring system were in place at a high level for professional boxing and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), boxers would have an outlet to seek when things go wrong. Considering the rash number of suicides in MMA, some connected to the use and abuse of anabolic steroids, contact sports really need a funded support system, dealing with both medical issues, emotional issue including psychological issues.

 

The point with Siviwe Ntsiko’s death is the general public has no interest in the athletes they don’t know, only the athletes like Arturo Gatti which they do. But a great many low profile athletes are suffering emotionally and medically, as if we didn’t know permanent head injuries and brain damage in professional football is at a rate many times worse than all other sports including boxing. After the glitter and the glamor and the glory, fighters like Siviwe Ntsiko are fotgotten.

 

We may remember Arturo Gatti, but the point is the issues are the same when a boxer hangs themself. Until all professional sports have a professional system of support, both emotional and financial, to deal with the emotional and medical issues of the athletes who participate in sports at all amateur and professional levels, tragedy is more likely to continue.

 

Incidents like the deaths of Arturo Gatti and Siviwe Ntsiko should trigger an awareness that whatever safety protocols are in place in the ring, they need a better system of safety protocols outside the ring and outside the arena, no prevent further tragedies from occurring.

 

Could Arturo Gatti have taken his own life, even during his honeymoon? While it doesn’t seem like, considering the nature of the brain injuries sustained by professional boxers, if Gatti and other boxers like him take their own lives, it doesn’t necessarily have to follow a sequence of logic, which friends and fans do not fully understand.

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