Brazilian police think they have pieced together the killing of former boxing champ Arturo Gatti, and according to THE TORONTO STAR, all signs point to his wife as his murderer. Authorities say there were plenty of inconsistencies in Amanda Rodrigues’ testimony during questioning and they’ve taken her into custody while preparing to file murder charges.

Among the holes in her story: the fact that police believe Gatti was strangled to death with the strap of a purse, which was found with blood stains. Or that her and Gatti had fought and got drunk the night before, because they were allegedly jealous of each other and Gatti was upset with her choice of clothing. Or - and this is most damaging - how she spent 10 hours with him before realizing he was dead.

Meanwhile, four-time world champion Acelino “Popo” Freitas, a close friend of Gatti’s, told a Brazilian TV station that he “knew they were having some sort of problem and were about to separate,” which might give you a pretty clear idea of motive. I don’t know if they have a Brazilian version of “Law & Order,”  but if they do I’m sure this will be made into an episode within three weeks.

BOXING SCENE has a more detailed timeline of how authorities think it all went down. They believe that Gatti and Rodrigues went to dinner and then a bar with their one-year-old daughter (always a good idea), and then got into a fight that led to Gatti pushing Rodrigues to the ground. They then think Rodrigues came home to find Gatti passed out drunk, at which point she stabbed him in the back of the head with a kitchen knife before strangling him to death with her purse.

Rodrigues has not confessed, and insists that that someone broke into the apartment they were staying at and killed Gatti - something authorities believe is nearly impossible. While the story remains tragic, the reports of Gatti getting physical with his wife and going out drinking with his infant daughter paint a more disturbing picture of Gatti - one that is not being helped by Joey Gamache’s upcoming testimony about the savage beating he received from Gatti in a fight where Gatti may have been more than 15 pounds over the weight limit by the opening bell.

Boxing: the land where all hope and happiness go to be destroyed.