Exclusive: The One That Got Away

By Edgar Gonzalez

Arturo Gatti’s ex speaks out to MyBoxingFans.com
With the shocking news of former boxing champion Arturo Gatti being killed in an apartment he rented with his 23-year-old Braziling wife Amanda Rodriguez in Porto de Galinhas, a seaside resort in northeastern Pernambuco state. I think it’s more shocking to know his wife strangled him with her purse strap while he drunkenly slept.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of the Italian Thunder and like many of you, I only know little about their personal life and though I never wish death upon anyone, we can’t point fingers and start choosing sides without knowing what forced Amanda to react with such violence.

MyBoxingFans spoke to Erika Rivera who was previously engaged to Arturo Gatti. Ms. Rivera is currently raising Gatti’s 3 year old daughter and working for the US Army as a Chemical Engineer.

MBF: what exactly do you do as a Chemical Engineer?

Erika: I work for the ARMY. I love my job. I make explosives for a living and witness a lot of the testing of munitions. It’s great. I could not have asked for a more exciting and challenging job.

MBF: you have a beautiful daughter Sofia with the former champion. What can you tell us about the relationship Sofia had with her father?

Erika: These are all of the pics from her first birthday. I don’t have the pictures from the hospital here at work. However, he is not involved in her life. He was upset Sofia was a girl. He was permitted to see his daughter whenever he wants. He had chosen not to. I took him to court after the baby was 6 months old when he refused to help me out. He was not seeing her nor paying child support. He threatened to take her to Canada and that I would never see her again. I took him to court and he was forced to pay. Our engagement was broken off when our daughter was a couple of weeks old.

It would be nice if I could say that he was a good father, but I can’t. A child needs more than just expensive clothes. Fortunately, his brother Joe and wife Vikki have been in Sofia’s life and my family is very supportive. They have two little girls so Sofia has her first cousins around for her that are close in age.

MBF: Your relationship with Gatti wasn’t perfect, but how shocking were you to hear about his death and how would this impact your life?

Erika: My daughter has not seen her father since his involvement with Amanda. Sofia made a card for her Papa for Father’s Day and I mailed it for her. She spoke to him on his birthday and on March 31 on her birthday he called her and said he was planning a trip to come visit his daughter. He always wanted a little boy. My daughter doesn’t have a father now. Nobody’s life should be taken from them. I will not tell my baby girl that her daddy was killed. I still have not told her he died. I am trying to explain to her that we become angels when something bad happens, or when we become old, or really sick to prepare for when I tell her that her Papa is in heaven with the angels.

Her Uncle Joe Gatti, wife Vikki and children Versace and Gianni, have been very supportive the last three years and have been filling the void for Sofia’s other side of the family. The girls play like sisters and Joe has been a positive influence for Sofia and will continue to be now that her daddy has passed away. He tells Sofia great stories about how great her daddy was as a child and a brother growing up.

MBF: Did you ever meet Amanda? If so what was your opinion of her? Also The New York Daily news recently released a statement from Carl Moretti, who promoted many of Gatti’s fights, where he states that he always worried about Gatti because he spent too much time in strip clubs picking up the wrong women. Was he ever like that when he was with you?

Erika: I went to dinner with her. She told me she never did drugs and didn’t drink alcohol. I proceeded to order a Margarita and she ordered the same. She told me she worked at a clothing store called Bebe in the mall and that Arturo took her virginity. He loved strip clubs and gogo bars, but most men do. He liked women. He was a very paranoid, jealous person, but she seemed to be the same way. You just have to walk away from a situation like that. He had a heart. It wouldn’t have mattered to me what her job was. It only mattered to me whether or not she was a good person to be responsible to take care of Sofia when in her father’s care. I heard from his friends that she seemed to make sure that he did not see his daughter if he wanted to be with his son.

MBF: why did you guys break up?

Erika: I left because he was too paranoid and was always falsely accusing me of infidelity. He was punchy from being hit in the head and we all felt bad for him because he was depressed and confused all the time. He did not deserve to be killed. I left because we couldn’t get along. It’s hard to come to agreement with someone who can’t agree with himself.

MBF: How would you remember Arturo Gatti?

Erika: I will remember Arturo as being funny and cracking jokes all the time calling Sofia his “little stinky butt” and “his little monkey.” I will remember him loving to dance and dancing with me asking me to teach him salsa and he’d flip me over his head and we’d fall on the floor laughing. I will remember him wanting to be a father more than anything in the world because he lost his father when he was young. I will remember the good times.

MBF: Erika Thank you so much for your time.