MONTREAL - Montreal boxer Arturo Gatti's sister Anna-Maria Gatti said Monday she was extremely suspicious of her sister-in-law's actions since Gatti's death Saturday.

She disputed allegations that her brother had beaten his wife, Amanda Carine Rodrigues. "She wasn't bruised I was beaten, I know what a person looks like when they're beaten," said Gatti in a television interview. Gatti claimed Rodrigues was unmoved when she relayed the news of her husband's passing. "She didn't cry. She was very very cold," recounted Anna-Maria in tears before insisting the Gatti family will adopt the couple's 10-month-old son.

The 23-year-old wife of famed Montreal boxer Arturo Gatti is facing first-degree murder charges after her husband’s body was discovered in a hotel room over the weekend.

Rodrigues, was taken into custody yesterday after giving contradictory information to police when she was questioned, according to news reports.

Rodrigues, a Brazilian, was unable to explain how she spent nearly 10 hours in the room without noticing that her husband was dead, police said.

Gatti’s body was found on Saturday in a room at the posh Porto de Galinhas resort in northeastern Brazil.

According to reports from the Pernambuco state police, he had apparently been strangled with the strap of a purse, which was found stained with blood at the scene.

Milena Saraiva, a spokesperson for the police, was quoted as saying the boxer also had a head injury.

Associated Press reported that witnesses at the resort told police the couple had been fighting and that Arturo Gatti was drunk when he returned to their room Friday night.

Others have come forward saying that both husband and wife had a jealous streak, and that the boxer had been upset with his wife’s choice of clothing when she travelled to Brazil. Ironically, the couple was in Brazil to sort out relationship problems before Arturo Gatti was to attend his sister's wedding in Florida.

A member of Montreal’s boxing community, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said yesterday that the boxer had a reputation as a heavy drinker, and had recently been thrown out of at least one Montreal nightclub.

“He was nice, good-looking kid, and nice to talk to,” he said. “But he drinks a lot, and when people drink they are different.”

The man, who had known Arturo Gatti since his teenage years, added he had met Rodrigues once about two months ago, and described her as a “very small girl.”

Acelino (Popo) Freitas, a four-time world champion Brazilian boxer, told Globo TV’s website that he knew both Gatti and his wife and that “they were having some sort of problem and were about to separate.”

Last spring, the couple’s marital problems became a matter of public record after Rodrigues called 911 claiming Arturo Gatti hit her. He was charged with assault, and later released on bail under conditions he stay 200 metres from his wife, abstain from alcohol and not possess any weapons.

The Italian-born boxer grew up in Montreal but spent most of his career in the United States. He retired to Montreal in 2007.

Nicknamed Thunder, Gatti was a professional between 1991 and 2007. He was super-featherweight champion in 1995 and WBC light-welterweight champion in 2004.

Boxing trainer Mike Moffa said he first saw Arturo Gatti box as a 6-year-old at a boxing club on Park Ave. in 1979.

“He was just a little kid, but he already knew how to throw a punch,” Moffa said yesterday. “People were saying that one day he would be a world champion. He had the right stuff.”

He last saw Gatti and his wife at a boxing gala at the Montreal Casino a few months ago. “She was a nice-looking girl,” he recalled.

The couple have a one-year-old son, Arturo Jr., who was with Rodrigues’ sister on Saturday and was unhurt.