A Brazilian police investigation has determined that the death of boxer Arturo Gatti was a suicide and a court has ordered the release of his wife, who was once suspected of killing him.

An Ohio man claims WBC middleweight boxing champion Kelly Pavlik and his trainer assaulted him at a bar in Pavlik’s hometown of Youngstown.

RIO DE JANEIRO—Police investigating the death of former boxing champion Arturo Gatti are working on the assumption his wife strangled him with her purse strap while he drunkenly slept. The woman’s lawyer, however, insists she is innocent and was too “fragile” to kill a boxer. Lead investigator Moises Teixeira told The Associated Press yesterday nothing is being ruled out but he is certain the woman acted by herself.

Former boxing champion Arturo Gatti, whose epic trilogy with Micky Ward branded him one of the most exciting fighters of his generation, was found dead in a hotel room in the posh seaside resort of Porto de Galihnas early Saturday. Police investigator Edilson Alves told The Associated Press that the body of the former junior welterweight champ was discovered in his room at the tourist resort, where Mr. Gatti had arrived Friday with his Brazilian wife, Amanda, and 1-year-old son. Alves said police were investigating and it was unclear how the 37-year-old Canadian died.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua—Alexis Arguello, who fought in one of boxing’s most classic brawls and reigned supreme at 130 pounds, was found dead at his home early Wednesday. Coroners were conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Sandanista Party’s Radio Ya and other local media were reporting it appeared to be a suicide. The La Prensa newspaper reported that Mr. Arguello—elected mayor of Nicaragua’s capital last year—was found with a gunshot wound to the chest.

Jack Johnson won the heavyweight championship in 1908, and promptly became not a hero but the most hated man in the United States. Johnson was an African-American, you see, and he had the temerity to defeat a white boxer in the land of self-evident truths and inalienable rights. His victory prompted race riots, as whites waded into black neighborhoods, attacking anyone who happened in their way. Many Americans associate race riots with visions of ghettos in flames. The first race rights featured whites falling upon blacks.

Champions Tour golfer Ken Green, who was injured in a recreational vehicle crash in Mississippi that killed his brother and girlfriend, will have his lower right leg amputated, his agent said yesterday. Kevin Richardson said Green, 50, is struggling with the “double whammy” of the deaths and his career-threatening injuries. Richardson said doctors will remove his leg below the knee today after determining it would take two years of surgery to repair a limb that wouldn’t function well before Green could walk again. He also will need a surgery to repair damage to a suborbital bone in his face. He also has a cut about 6 inches long on the left side of his head.

LOS ANGELES - Oscar De La Hoya stopped battling himself yesterday, deciding after much internal turmoil to retire and end a career in which he won 10 world titles in six divisions and became boxing’s most popular fighter. He made his announcement at an outdoor plaza across the street from Staples Center, where a 7-foot bronze statue of the 36-year-old Golden Boy stands.

In his days as a fighter, Sahnow had a pro/amateur record of 136-14. He retired in 1968. Billy Sahnow will celebrate “55 Years of Boxing” on Sunday at Mechanicsville Recreation Center. Richmond has no official boxing museum. Therefore, Billy Sahnow’s den will have to do. There’s an overflowing treasure chest of memorabilia and memories at the residence of Billy and Sandy Sahnow in old Mechanicsville.

Eddie Cook (right), a former World Boxing Association bantamweight champ, has helped Immanuwel Aleem, 15, win state and regional Silver Gloves amateur titles. Eddie Cook knows what it feels like being a boxing champion and also what it takes to become one. Today, it’s combinations of pointers - not punches - Cook’s dishing out. Looks like he’s connecting, too.

Many young women run on the treadmill or do aerobics for physical fitness. Others get exercise playing tennis or softball. Daring to be different, Christina Perry throws leather.

BOXING Thursday
At Prudential Center, Newark, N.J. (VERSUS), Steve Cunningham, Philadelphia, vs. Tomasz Adamek, Poland, 12, for Cunningham’s IBF cruiserweight title; Joseph Agbeko, Bronx, N.Y., vs. William Gonzalez, Nicaragua, 12, bantamweights.  Friday
At Alameda Swap Meet, Los Angeles, Urbano Antillon, Maywood, Calif., vs. Juan Ramon Cruz, Puerto Rico, 10, super featherweights; Brain Viloria, Waipahu, Hawaii, vs. Benjie Garci, San Diego, 10, flyweights.

The Youth Sports and Fine Arts Academy’s Hillside Cobras will participate in the Virginia Silver Gloves Boxing Tournament at 1 p.m. Dec. 6-7, 2008, in the old Armstrong High School gym, 1611 N. 31st St. The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s YSFAA is a comprehensive, prevention program that uses sports to engage youth in organized, structured programs aimed at helping them aspire to their full potential.

ZURICH, Switzerland—Evander Holyfield is returning to the ring at age 46, setting his sights on becoming undisputed heavyweight champion again. Holyfield will fight 7-foot WBA champion Nikolai Valuev next month. A victory would make him the oldest man to claim a world heavyweight title and the first to win it five times. “My goal is to be undisputed champion not just to win one title,“ Holyfield said at a news conference today at the Hallenstadion, where the fight will take place on Dec. 20.