By Sue Montgomery

MONTREAL — Just as Amanda Rodrigues began Thursday describing the "really ugly" fight she had with husband Arturo Gatti the night the champion boxer died, her lawyer intervened, saying it wasn't relevant in the dispute over the dead man's will.

It added another element of suspense and mystery in the case unfolding in Quebec Superior Court like a movie script involving fame, fortune, marital strife and a suspicious death.

Rodrigues said she dined with Gatti on July 10, 2009 at a pizzeria in her native Brazil. As the couple ate and drank wine, their infant son Junior slept in his stroller beside them. When dinner ended at about 12:30 a.m., Gatti wanted to go to a bar, but Rodrigues was tired and wanted to return to their hotel, she told court Thursday.

"He said, 'Where are you going?' and I said I was tired and was going home," the 25-year-old widow said.

Gatti told her no, then pushed her down, she testified.

"I said to him, 'You're not going to change,' and kept walking," she said, adding that Gatti refused to let Rodrigues take the baby with her.

By the time to two met up again, Junior's bib was covered in blood and Gatti looked sad, not angry, Rodrigues told the court.

"He asked me, 'What happened to your arms?' and I said, 'You did this to me.'"

She said she heard Gatti had become involved in a brawl involving about 20 people after a bystander asked him what he was doing with his wife. Gatti allegedly told the man it was none of his business, then slugged him. A crowd grew as people came to the victim's aid, some throwing rocks and bicycles at Gatti, cutting the back of his head.

Rodrigues's lawyer, Pierre-Hugues Fortin, intervened at this point, saying that if the Gatti family lawyer wanted to allege that Rodrigues is responsible for Gatti's death, he should have done it before the case began.

Carmine Mercadante said he just wants to know what happened between the time the couple argued and the next day, when Gatti was found dead in the vacation apartment where the two were staying. Authorities held Rodrigues as a suspect until the death was ruled a suicide.

An independent investigation, commissioned by Gatti's manager, concluded this month that the boxer had been murdered.

Sue Montgomery is a reporter for The Montreal Gazette