FanHouse Arturo Gatti

Confidence has never been an issue for WBC champion Carl Froch.

In a wide-ranging interview, the outspoken and talented Englishman, who is 26-0 with 20 knockouts, says why he thought Andre Dirrell was "scared" in their Oct. 17 fight, why he believes Dirrell will defeat Germany's Arthur Abraham and why he will defeat WBA champ Mikkel Kessler.

Read what Froch had to say during this Q&A after the jump.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Several times a year, Fred Tukes leaves his wife Heather, his two-year-old son Jeremiah, and his 14-year-old daughter Alana, at home in Atlanta to go and trade punches with some of the world's best professional boxers.

When Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Arturo Gatti in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall in June 2005, he was greeted by a hostile crowd partisan to the New Jersey native.

The acrimonious reception brought out the best in Mayweather, who stopped Gatti in six rounds after dropping him early during a generally dominant performance for the World Boxing Council light welterweight title.

The undefeated six-time champion expects a similar atmosphere Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where Mayweather (39-0, 25 knockouts) takes on Mexico City's Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs) at a catchweight of 144 pounds.

MONTREAL (AP) -- A second autopsy performed at the request of former boxer Arturo Gatti's family has not ruled out homicide in his death.

Michael Baden, the former chief pathologist for the New York State Police and host of the HBO cable TV show Autopsy, said Saturday that an autopsy performed by Quebec coroners found that an investigation by Brazilian authorities was incomplete.

The second autopsy came two days after Brazilian police classified Gatti's death a suicide.

"There were definite injuries that had not been seen by the Brazilian authorities, but one needs a lot of additional information, including a toxicology which isn't available yet, to come to a conclusion as to whether it's homicide or suicide,'' Baden said.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Boxer Arturo Gatti's body was exhumed Friday to allow the Quebec coroner's office to perform a new autopsy at his family's request.

The development comes a day after Brazilian police classified Gatti's death as a suicide.

Until Thursday, police in the northeastern Brazil city of Recife considered it a homicide, with his wife as the prime suspect. Now, police say Gatti hanged himself with a handbag strap from a staircase column more than seven feet off the ground.

SAO PAULO (AP) -- An autopsy indicates former boxing champion Arturo Gatti may have committed suicide, been accidentally killed or murdered, according to a Brazilian newspaper that said it obtained a copy of the coroner's initial findings.

Police have said they are certain Gatti's 23-year-old wife strangled the boxer with her purse strap as he drunkenly slept July 11, but the autopsy report raises some doubts.

Gatti was found dead in the apartment he was renting with wife Amanda Rodrigues in the Brazilian seaside resort of Porto de Galinhas in the northeastern state of Pernambuco.

HBO did boxing fans a great service this weekend by replaying the three classic fights between Micky Ward and the late Arturo Gatti. Viewing them again was a real pleasure.

I watched all three fights live, but I hadn't seen more than a few seconds of highlights from them in the last five years, so I went into the re-airing with a fresh set of eyes. The first thing that jumped out at me is that these fights really were amazing. Sometimes you go back and watch a classic sporting event from the past and it doesn't feel like it deserves its legendary status. If anything, the Gatti-Ward trilogy has gotten better with age.

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Arturo Gatti, the boxing great who was killed last weekend in Brazil, will always be remembered for his three epic fights with Micky Ward -- a trilogy as good as any in boxing history. Ward said this week that he was shocked by the death of Gatti, whose wife is currently in custody and charged with his murder.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- The wife accused of killing former boxing champion Arturo Gatti tells The Associated Press in a jailhouse letter that she is innocent.

Amanda Rodrigues says she could not bear to be interviewed, but gave a letter to the AP written on lined, white paper in red ink, proclaiming her love for Gatti.

"I lost my husband!" she writes. "This is a pain that has become inexplicable and intolerable, this loss and this malicious accusation."

At some point, both women must have figured happiness was tangled up in the bling, the fame and the muscles. When Sahel Kazemi looked at Steve McNair, she probably saw kindness and generosity, toughness and security. Were those the same qualities Amanda Rodrigues detected in Arturo Gatti?

The fine print in the lives of McNair and Gatti are eerily similar: McNair, an All-Pro quarterback, overcame injuries to his calf and ankle to earn NFL co-MVP honors in 2003, retired in 2007, was murdered at the age of 36. Gatti, a champion boxer, fought nearly one-handed for several rounds yet still won an epic match in 2003, retired in 2007, was murdered at the age of 37.