It was bizarre to read that the boxer Arturo Gatti was murdered by his wife during a vacation in Brazil. Somehow it makes even less sense to learn his death has now been ruled a suicide. The life of a boxer is far too often a hard one, but Gatti seemed to have a good run. He was, as the cliche goes, a warrior, capable of both dishing out and withstanding severe punishment. It enabled him to rack up a 40-9 record, including participating in four bouts Ring Magazine dubbed “Fight of Year” (he went 2-2), ensuring box office clout far beyond that of most fighters of his caliber (while he gutted out victories most of his career, he was dominated by greats Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather).

Gatti became an icon in both his hometown of Montreal and New Jersey in general, where his Atlantic City bouts brought him honorary Jersey boy status. He seemed to be universally respected–I remember his nemesis Mickey Ward (1-1 against him in two of the Fights of the Year) accompanying him to the ring before a bout–and retired two years ago at the sensible age of 35, meaning he could either stay retired and preserve his health or return to the ring without humiliating himself too badly, provided he didn’t take on a Manny Pacquaio-level fighter. Yet now he’s gone in a story that’s utterly surreal yet strangely in keeping with boxing history. Among the sweet science’s weirdest demises:

-The legendary middleweight titleist Stanley Ketchel was gunned down at 24 for sleeping with another man’s girlfriend–Ketchel was no stranger to gunplay, having once shot his trainer–then at his funeral
his fiance Jewell Bovine tried to kill herself by drinking acid.
-Ex-heavyweight champ Sonny Liston (who allegedly threw one of his two fights with Ali) was heard arguing with a mobster in Vegas, then soon after found dead on his bathroom floor of what the coroner ruled “natural causes” despite unexplained needle marks in his arm.
-The former middleweight titleist Marcel Cerdan announced before a rematch with Jake La Motta, “I will win, or I will die” and got on a plane that crashed, killing all its passengers.
-The original Jack Dempsey (from whom the more famous heavyweight from the 1920s took his name) apparently kept fighting for nearly five years with tuberculosis, passing only months after his final bout at age 33.

Yet boxing’s saddest stories aren’t experienced by its champs, but its sparring partners. Is there a more grueling profession than that of being the fighter preparing the fighter for the actual bout? You need to be skilled enough to test him…but not too skilled, because it isn’t in a trainer’s interest to have a mere sparring partner destroying the star’s confidence (or, worse, seriously injuring him and jeopardizing the entire bout). You need to be just good enough to justify being brought back the next day, where you’ll sustain more of a beating. Then one day you’re no use to anyone, and you go out into the world, where you may encounter troubles every bit as severe as Arturo Gatti’s and no one will ever notice.

__ of the Moment appears each Wednesday.

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