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.
Amanda Rodriguez who is accused of Gatti’s death, was taken into a woman’s prison in the state capital Recife. Let this be a lesson that you should always think before you react and do what Erika Rivera did and walk away before it’s too late.
yes, Amanda Killed him… Erika was Arturos Ex. which she has a baby with Gatti.
Who are all these people? Davana, John,? who cares?! i am confused. Didn’t some Brazilian stripper named amanda kill Arturo? who cares about this Erica girl!!! i don’t care if she is a prostitute. My favorite boxer ARTURO got murdered by some dirty skank whore. i don’t care “what” or “who” he did before his life got flipped around when he went to brazil and was killed. Rest in Peace, ARTURO… we all miss you!
yep erika is an opportunist lil hooker just look at her life and how miserable of a human she is,,,every man dumps her ass as soon as they have been with her long enough for her act to wear off
Oh….And, most people would avoid a law suit if court documents ever came out that said I wanted to have an abortion. In a few years that child will read this. Let me ask…Was it worth that?
EXCERPTS FROM THE PURSUIT OF ERIKA RIVERA ARTURO GATTI AGAINST
Filed November 2, 2006, New Jersey
“The defendant and the plaintiff had known in March 2005, while studying for a (…) PhD in chemical engineering. Their relationship quickly became serious and the defendant was quickly informed of his strong desire to become a father. ”
“Faced with his infidelities, the defendant treated the plaintiff the profit and a whore.”
“In October 2005, the defendant physically attacked the plaintiff, who once again has thought about ending her pregnancy. She was however concerned about the risk of complications, given the advanced stage of her pregnancy. ”
“The defendant has promised, repeatedly, always he would ensure the financial needs of the plaintiff and their child, regardless of the status of their relationship.”
“The defendant continues to spend lavishly for himself. Including $ 50 000 for a weekend gambling in Las Vegas and countless thousands of dollars extra for the sexual services of prostitutes to pay for breast implants nude dancers. ”
“The defendant even paid $ 30 000 to afford a new dog, a sum far higher than it paid to support her daughter.”
In fact, I’m willing to bet that everybody who wrote stuff has good reason. I mean what type of woman does what she does over a man who wasn’t much of a father, a boyfriend, denies the suicide attempt and then files a flimsy law suit based on pure lies. She should marry Arturo’s brother, they can spend the rest of their life creating fiction together. Next week we’ll see how she feels when she is exposed as the liar that she has shown herself to be. That law suit is based on fiction, just like the murder conspiracy theory.
I read court documents that Erika Riveria filed in relation to Gatti’s attempted suicide attempt in 2005. There is some pretty damning evidence that Ms. Riveria knew of his suicide attempt in the past and there were many other things which support the obvious…ie…that Arturo Gatti killed himself, he was not murdered. I think this woman is a snake after reading the court documents. A total liar and she acknowledged that Mr. Gatti was not a big part of his child’s life, period. Then she blames his widow for his lack of involvement, when the court documents revealed that he never really bothered much with the child. I find the way this woman went after this widow, knowing he tried to kill himself before and then saying he would never try to kill himself completely destroys her case. Riveria thinks it funny that all of Gatti’s money is going to be exhausted from the law suit she launched, while never considering the fact that she is taking the money from his son. I guess that’s fine since she has 1.1 million already secured for her child. She has lied, been vindictive over a man who chose not to be in her child’s life and then she finds it’s a good strategy to begrudge Mr. Gatti’s spouse and son. Ms. Riveria will have her day when she takes the stand next week and I’m pretty sure the contingency agreement will disintegrate pretty quickly once all the facts are out there.
Davana was my neighbor and she has a bad reputation for taking oxycotin pills, drinking heavily on a daily basis, and doing steroids. she has always seemed somewhat bi-polar. i don’t know her well but i do know that she has had men come to the house when her husband was not home that drove lamborghinis.
I came across this interview last year and waited to comment because i knew it would only be a matter of time before the truth presented itself… I am only making my statement because I dont want anyone who reads this to believe any of the bullshit that has been written about Davana. She made an honest comment back in July without defacing anyones character . I know for a fact she was telling the truth because I attended both family parties Erika attended where both John and Davana were at as husband and wife.. There was alot of malicious things that were done to Davana after Erika pursued John that i need not get into because there will be more strippers coming to her defense…All i can say is anyone who has a married man move into her home with her 3yr old child within 2weeks is someone Davana felt would not be a good influence on her daughter… what a difference a year makes, since this interview John has broken up with Erika and he and Davana have a wonderful friendship and
are enjoying raising their daughter…. AMAZING ONCE SHE’S GONE SO IS ALL THE DRAMA…….
SORRY FOR THE TYPOS>>>>>I’ve heard some crazy things about Erika, ,not sure if they are true, but what I do know, and many other people from NJIT, is that Erika rivera WAS a stripper. She dropped out of school for a few years, got breast implants, stripped full time and returned to NJIT a few years later. we we were in her incoming 1997 class and would see her return from “work” about 4am like clockwork. She tried to convince my friend alana to strip and everyone on campus knew she was a stripper. I had friends that were party promoters in the city saying that erika was always looking for the next come up from a man….and Arturo did meet erika at LOOKERS while she was stripping. That is the truth. SHe has a career now, but Arturo didn’t really want to wife a stripper & that’s what she was when they met. I give her props for being a hustler and finishing school even though she was strippin’.
I’ve heard some crazy things about Erika, ,not sure if they are true, but what I do know, and many other people from NJIT, is that Erika rivera WAS a stripper. She dropped out of school for a few years, got breast implants, stripped full time and returned to NJIT a few years later. we we were in here incoming 1997 class and would see her return from “work” about 4am like clockwork. She tried to convince my friend alana to strip and everyone on campus new she was a stripper. I had friends that were party promoters in the city saying that erika was always looking for the next come up from a man….and she did meet erika at LOOKERS while she was stripping. That is the truth. SHe has a career now, but Arturo didn’t really want to wife a stripper & that’s what she was when they met. I give her props for being a hustler and finishing school even though she was strippin’.
WOW…first of all its a shame all of you that are speaking so negativly and being completely ignorant to the fact of two small children losing their daddy….you should be ashamed of yourselves…however…its I must add…it IS completely expected from trash like you (you know who you are) its a shame jealousy can consume your life…and you MISS “JOEY” and DAVANA really need to consentrate on your own lives…ESPECIALLY YOU davana…you have a child…YOU SHOULD BE ATTENDING TO….. NOT FINDING THINGS ON THE COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and not to mention….your “boyfriend” is MARRIED WITH 3 SMALL CHILDREN…you & john didnt seperate because of erika…that RIDICULOUS!!!! AND YOU KNOW IT!!!! maybe you should change your psychitic ways(like stabbing your husband)….i have heard from a very good source that YOU DONT EVEN LET JOHN OR ANYONE IN HIS FAMILY SEE THE BABY….so the ONLY one who is “suffering” in all this IS YOUR DAUGHTER YOUR KEEPING FROM HER FATHER!!!!!!! sofia is VERY well taken care of by ericka…maybe you should take some parenting lessons..or read a book about it..
you all know nothing about any of the horse-shit that you are writing. erika is a great woman and a great mother ,the problem is that you shallow ass mother fuckers are so consumed with nonsense that does not pertain to you . i lived it . i know it. erika is all that. you people wish u were in her shoes…she is a picture perfect person….
To joey: I WAS HOPING YOU SHOW SOME RESPECT FOR ARTURO,MAY YOU R.I.P. ARTURO…now joey..How’s the real estate business these days(or is this V—-)? Are you still wearing those ultra big sunglasses? I would really hate to start tracing IP address all over again!!! I have become an expert at this FYI…what was that word you loved so much…KARMA..ring a bell there joey….Instead of wasting your life away…you need to move on…take a nice ride north….MONTREAL is not that far….OH bring flowers!!…this is about Arturo show him some respect…moving on……To that other one unhappy above…..we have a saying “People who live in GLASS HOUSES SHOULD NOT THROW ROCKS!!!”….dating a married man with a family…..is usually not a good idea…bad foundation…they are usually refer to as home wreckers…none of my business..this is not about venting your misfortunes…. THIS IS ABOUT ARTURO …SHOW SOME RESPECT….REST IN PEACE ARTURO…..WE’RE NOT GOING TO QUIT UNTIL JUSTICE IS DONE YOU NEVER QUITED
You obviously have no life and nothing better to do then wait for someone to post to reply. So go ahead, Its obvious you check this thing every 5 minutes. Im going to bed – i’ll read your next 6 posts sometime tomorrow.
“and found somebody BETTER married her ”
Joey are you on crack! So if Erika had him change his will while they were engaged to get everything and then killed him, would you call her the BEST thing that ever happened to him. After what you know now, Amanda KILLED him – youre gonna call her “BETTER”. Wow.
“and when she cheated on him she f***ed his friend and found out what a slut she is and found out about her past he moved on” You really need to get your timeline straight.
And you keep saying I dont know her. You obbviously dont know her cause youre way off on everything youve said about her so far. Its unbelievable how big of a jealous douche you sound like in all your posts.
Hey lauren,get your smelly ass off the comp……your the one who sounds like the side piece….u stop being so bitter… Just because he probally fucked u and then chucked u….. magget!!!!~
Hey lauren,get your smells ass off the comp……your the one who sounds like the side piece….u stop being so bitter… Just because he probally fucked u and then chucked u….. magget!!!!~
I can’t believe this Brazilian rat low life from that third world country actually got away with murder! those Brazilian women are nuts! They will lie, rob you, take you for everything you got! Everyone knows that Brazilians are out-of-control and are into all that voodoo crap. They are all money hungry b–ches that come into this country on a boat and their mothers prostitute them out at age 14. Poor Arturo. RIP brotha! at least you had two beautiful children that will live on your legacy!!!!! This should be a lesson to all men who think Brazilian women are trustworthy. I don’t trust them. that’s for sure!!!!! United States and Canada should get together to take this sleeze bag back in prison where she belongs
to all you internet maggets, you dont know shit about this girl , this girl is not who you think she is. she is a pig, she probally traped arturo by having a baby with him, and when she cheated on him she f***ed his friend and found out what a slut she is and found out about her past he moved on with his life and found somebody BETTER married her and had a son with her, she is just a bitter bitch and needs too shut her f***ing mouth, and stop making up lies…….
to joey- What guy would actually write what you wrote, JOEY, about this chick Erika? You are definitely a GIRL writing..not even a woman…hiding behind that fake name. You sound like a bitter ex-girlfriend or bitter “side-piece-of-a$$ of Arturo’s past!!! How pathetic! Wow!!!! Get over it…… He wasn’t a prize! He was a great boxer but definitely not someone to be still bitter about!
Its very clear what is happening here…Hatred is all anyone can think about and express. where is it getting anyone? there is also children involved in all this. Is this what you want the kids to see when they are old enough to find this crap on the internet??? Im going to try not to be biased since I know Erika better than all of you people! She is a classy loving woman with a good head on her shoulders. Is she perfect? No but who is? Are you all perfect? She was dignified and extremely honest in this interview. She has come a long way from a load of crap she was dished that none of you will ever be able to understand. You DONT know the truth! Davana, I do not know what your circumstances are specifically but I KNOW he left you. So your remarks are not credible since you are naturally jealous and do not want to accept that it was HE who left YOU. Erika is not a home wrecker and she did not steal your ex. Erika was not in his life until AFTER you! You should be ashamed of yourself considering you have a daughter to think about and all this nonsense only hurts the children in the end. This is the problem with our society. I hate divorce. Its a sad end result when children are involved but you need to accept your marriage didnt work out and stop blaming everyone else. Your relationship not working out is because of YOU AND HIM only.
To Rom…She never said he was in her life actively except for the handful of times in the beginning. Who deserts their child? A total loser! I dont care what “Amanda MADE him do”, In the end it was ARTURO’S decision to cut sofia out of his life so he is ultimately to blame for that. But to be respectful to his family (and Sofias) Erika was dignified in her answers. He by no means was a good father to her…PERIOD!!! Why is everyone forgetting that? She is an innocent little girl who does not deserve any of this. Just because Erika did not end up marrying Arturo doesn’t mean she is any less Arturos daughter than Amandas son! whatever the point is, Erika’s moved on and Sofia has so much love that none of this will matter in a few years! Davana I am truly sorry your marriage didnt work out. Divorce sucks! But you cannot blame Erika for your failed relationship.
Wow. How does it make you feel Joey? Good? You feel like a REAL MAN now? Actually the way you speak does remind me of someone. Reminds me of the way Arturo spoke to my sister and apparently all women.
Sofia not being his daughter? Really? Have you looked at the picture?
Where does this anger come from?
And as for my sisters character, I’m sure we don’t have to do much digging to find dirt on you. We all have a past, but you like to leave out how she was going for her PHD when she was engaged to Arturo and he asked her to stop school to raise their child. She has her Masters in Chemical Engineering, has a great family and Sofia is a wonderful little girl. For the sake of the kids involved in this (that goes for you too davana), we should all act like adults and realize that this is completely warped behavior to sit on a message board spewing hate.
You guys should try and find some decency within yourself and leave her alone as she has done nothing to you. She’s not attacking Arturo here and she definitely COULD have without even trying!
LIsten again u don’t know her!!! Shes a whore! Thats why arturo left her….
Im not, but even if I was 100% wrong about everything in my post, what does this article have to do with Erikas character and past relationships? You are all using this as a forum to bash her – what in that article/interview up there merits anything you guys have said in here. Nothing.
Lets say I dont have my facts straight, I know Erika very well and she’s a much better person than the picture you are all painting.
Omar, you really dont know what the f**** your talking about!!!! you need to get your facts straight shes a f******* whore…… she is absolutly a bad person!!!! trust me she has alot of notchies under her belt….
You are all gutless and retarted. Go up there and bash Erika like you know what happened. I’ve known her for 10 years and you are all way off here. She loved Gatti when she was with him, but he cheated on her with a f’in brazilian stripper – and thats why there relationship fell apart. Obviously they weren’t exactly cool after it was over – who would be, but she didn’t kick him out of Sofia’s life. She encouraged him to visit and have a relationship with his daughter. He tried to at first and Amanda repremanded him. So rom – yea you tough guy hiding behind some bogus name – she’s not sugar coating shit. She’s being respectful to someone who was murdered and not pouring it on. And do you even know the story with Dave. From your BS comment you have know idea, so hide behind a fake name and talk smack when you dont know shit.
Davana, I’ll give you credit for putting your name up there, your a female and you have more balls then anyone else who posted on here. Good for you. But honestly, you make it sound like you had nothing to do with your husband leaving you. Erika isn’t the most religious person, but she’s morally sound. She wouldn’t try and ruin someones marriage. Your husband left you, and you are just throwing Erika under the bus. For you to say she pursued her while you were together is a blatant lie. Divorce is unfortunate but it happens, you need to forget and move on like John did.
And Joey, bringing up stuff from like 13 years ago. Like you’re a saint. MAN-up dude. Really. That’s not how erika met him.
You guys turned this into a “bashing erika session”, wtf for. Because a stripper killed Gatti, and now she’s getting away with it. You should be slaughtering her in here, not erika.
Be strong Erika – You’re a good hard working person, keep it up.
I know erika very well i worked with her for many years……she is a con artist that lays down with every single man , boyfriends , husbands she is a liar , she is a minipulator. she has worked in club a bis as a dancer , she has worked as go go dancer in lookers , thats how she met auturo gatti….. she is a disgusting pig that has sex with so many guys! that baby is probally is not even auturos!
so typical of erika to pursue someone elses man.
John Dente
what was your husbands name?
Erika is now dating my husband.she pursued him while we were togther.we also have a 2yr old daughter.I know her past and my friend was very close to arturo. Erika is not what she portrays to be.the only one who suffers is their daughter.
i know the whole story so dont try and act like he was in her life because of the shit you did with dave,,,his friend,,
he never was in sofias life so dont sugar coat it erika
Great interview Edgar. Gatti was imperfect like the rest of us and this does shed some light on why his life was cut short. Too many people do not realize how being punched in the head affects the rest of your life.
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