Son of boxing legend Arturo Gatti dead at 17: Prodigy found hanged 16 years after his father's mysterious 'suicide'

The son of Canadian boxing legend Arturo Gatti has tragically died at the age of 17 after being found hanged in a Mexico apartment.

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.

'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,' Zito, an American actor and stuntman, wrote alongside a series of photos of Arturo Jr and Sr on Instagram. '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.'

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 Mo 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.

He was born just 10 months before his dad's infamous passing out in Brazil, which is still a topic of fierce controversy 16 years later.

Arturo Sr, a former two-weight world champion, was found dead in Brazil while on vacation with his son and wife Amanda back in July 2009.

Gatti's deceased 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 kitchen 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 a suicide.

As the Daily Mail recalled in a special report looking back at his death earlier this year, 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.'

Yet two months later, 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 the 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.