Sao Paulo, July 31 (DPA) Former world boxing champion Arturo 'Thunder' Gatti, whose body was found in a holiday flat in the Brazilian resort of Porto de Galinhas in early July, committed suicide, police said.

An investigation found that the Italian-Canadian had hanged himself and was not murdered.

As a result, a court in Recife ordered the release of his wife, Amanda Rodrigues, 23, who had been held on suspicion of his murder.

Detaining his wife was no longer necessary as inquiries had ruled out that Gatti was murdered, the court said Thursday. The boxer 'killed himself by hanging', it added.

Gatti was found dead July 11 in Porto de Galinhas in an apartment where he was on holiday with his wife and one-year-old son.