BRAMPTON, Ont. — Peel regional police have arrested a 33-year-old man in a double-murder case involving former Canadian boxing champion Eddie Melo.

Melo, 40, and Joao Pavao, 42, were gunned down in a parking lot in Mississauga, west of Toronto, more than two years ago.

Their killer eluded police despite a bevy of evidence, including the getaway car and at least one witness account.

Investigators have acknowledged it will be difficult to determine why Melo, a former middleweight champ, was gunned down. He was a reputed mob enforcer, an occupation police suspect played a role in his death.

Melo was also the target of a mob hit in 1989 and had previously been shot during separate brawls.

Born in Portugal before coming to Canada at age six, Melo built an amateur boxing record of 93-4 before turning professional in Montreal at the age of 17. He defeated the reigning middleweight champ and went on to claim the title himself before he retired.

Charles Gagne, a 33-year-old inmate from the Hull Correctional Centre in Quebec, was to appear in court Monday to be arraigned on two counts of first-degree murder.