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Remembering the Bronx Bull-Jake LaMotta
Sad news for the boxing community today as it loses a true legend of the squared circle.
Giacobbe “Jake” LaMotta ( 83-19-4 30KO) was the last of his era when fighting over 100 fights in a career was normal if not expected.
Raging Bull:
Best remembered for being played by De Niro in the 1980 Scorsese film Raging Bull LaMotta- the son of Italian immigrants famously helped to pay rent as a child by fighting other kids for the entertainment of neighbourhood adults who would throw pocket change at the combatants (whether this story is true or not i couldn't tell you). He turned pro at the age of 19 in 1941 after being rejected for military service due to an operation on one of his ears.
As a boxer he is best remembered for his 6 fights with the greatest of his era (and arguably greatest of all time) ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson. In LaMotta's own words “the three toughest fighters i ever fought were Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Robinson. I fought Sugar so many times i'm surprised i'm not diabetic”. Their first fight in October of ‘42 at Madison Square Garden saw Robinson overcoming a first round knockdown to take a unanimous 10 round decision. The rematch in February of ‘43 had LaMotta taking Robinsons unbeaten record (he was 40-0 up to this point) in a 10 round fight where LaMotta knocked ‘Sugar’ through the ropes in the eighth to take a unanimous points win. However according to some sources LaMotta outweighed his opponent by as much as 16lbs in this fight. LaMotta fought Ray Robinson (real name Walker Smith) to 3 more losing decisions, 2 of which were extremely controversial and hotly disputed.
St Valentine's day massacre:
One of the most infamous fights of its day the sixth and final fight between LaMotta and Robinson was held on the 14th of February ‘51. Robinson created the legend of the Raging bull’s chin in this fight by hammering the New York Italian with everything including the kitchen sink over the course of 13 rounds but was unable to take him off his feet. I believe the quote from the film is “you never got me down man, you hear me? You never got me down”. Watching the 13th round today (there is footage on YouTube) with modern attitudes towards fighter safety is truly horrific. LaMotta is clearly out on his feet being hammered as some in the crowd scream for the fight to be stopped but you can clearly hear the commentator say “he's a champion he deserves to be stopped” which is just the attitude towards head trauma at the time.
Hard head Pillow fists:
Watching footage of LaMotta the first thing that strikes me is just how wild and aggressive he is (obviously Boxing in 2017 is very different to that of the 40s and 50s). LaMotta loved to march his man down chin tucked to his chest and throw wild combinations of wide double left hooks to the body combined with a surprisingly sharp jab and combinations of hooks and uppercuts on the inside. So relentless was he in his sustained body attack that at some points he seems to be focused on his opponent's torso to the complete exclusion of the head as if he could burn a hole in his man’s chest by force of will alone. However LaMotta is much more well known for his ability to absorb damage than dish it it out. He scored only 30 KOs in 83 wins (although he did knock down Robinson multiple times) or a 28% Knockout ratio.the remarkable thing about LaMotta is that despite being stopped 4 times in 19 losses he only tasted the canvas once, against Danny Nardico- 51-13-4 (36 KO) 10 years and 103 fights into his career.
Shadowy connections:
Unfortunately it is impossible to mention LaMotta without bringing up his loss to Billy Fox whom he lost to by KO in 4 rounds. In the 40s and 50s boxing was owned by the mafia and LaMotta later admitted that he threw this fight in order to be allowed a shot at vastly underrated Frenchman Marcel Cerdan-113-4-0 (66 KO) which he won by retirement as Cerdan quit at the start of the 10th having fought 9 rounds with a dislocated arm and absorbing 104 punches in round 9. A rematch was planned but Cerdan was killed in a plane crash while flying to the fight. LaMotta defended the championship twice before losing it in the St valentine's day massacre against Robinson.
Rest well champion:
LaMotta passed away on the 19th of September 2017 at the age of 95 after reportedly battling with pneumonia for some time. the last champion of a bygone era. Remembered for his hard head, iron will and being the first man to defeat the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson-174-19-6 (109 KO). Immortalised in the Oscar winning film and by boxing fans who revere him as having one of the best chins of all time he is a key part of boxing history in the middleweight division. “No son-of-a-bitch ever knocked me off my feet” - Giacobbe “Jake” LaMotta July 10 1922- September 19th 2017
Sad news for the boxing community today as it loses a true legend of the squared circle.
Giacobbe “Jake” LaMotta ( 83-19-4 30KO) was the last of his era when fighting over 100 fights in a career was normal if not expected.
Raging Bull:
Best remembered for being played by De Niro in the 1980 Scorsese film Raging Bull LaMotta- the son of Italian immigrants famously helped to pay rent as a child by fighting other kids for the entertainment of neighbourhood adults who would throw pocket change at the combatants (whether this story is true or not i couldn't tell you). He turned pro at the age of 19 in 1941 after being rejected for military service due to an operation on one of his ears.
As a boxer he is best remembered for his 6 fights with the greatest of his era (and arguably greatest of all time) ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson. In LaMotta's own words “the three toughest fighters i ever fought were Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Robinson. I fought Sugar so many times i'm surprised i'm not diabetic”. Their first fight in October of ‘42 at Madison Square Garden saw Robinson overcoming a first round knockdown to take a unanimous 10 round decision. The rematch in February of ‘43 had LaMotta taking Robinsons unbeaten record (he was 40-0 up to this point) in a 10 round fight where LaMotta knocked ‘Sugar’ through the ropes in the eighth to take a unanimous points win. However according to some sources LaMotta outweighed his opponent by as much as 16lbs in this fight. LaMotta fought Ray Robinson (real name Walker Smith) to 3 more losing decisions, 2 of which were extremely controversial and hotly disputed.
St Valentine's day massacre:
One of the most infamous fights of its day the sixth and final fight between LaMotta and Robinson was held on the 14th of February ‘51. Robinson created the legend of the Raging bull’s chin in this fight by hammering the New York Italian with everything including the kitchen sink over the course of 13 rounds but was unable to take him off his feet. I believe the quote from the film is “you never got me down man, you hear me? You never got me down”. Watching the 13th round today (there is footage on YouTube) with modern attitudes towards fighter safety is truly horrific. LaMotta is clearly out on his feet being hammered as some in the crowd scream for the fight to be stopped but you can clearly hear the commentator say “he's a champion he deserves to be stopped” which is just the attitude towards head trauma at the time.
Hard head Pillow fists:
Watching footage of LaMotta the first thing that strikes me is just how wild and aggressive he is (obviously Boxing in 2017 is very different to that of the 40s and 50s). LaMotta loved to march his man down chin tucked to his chest and throw wild combinations of wide double left hooks to the body combined with a surprisingly sharp jab and combinations of hooks and uppercuts on the inside. So relentless was he in his sustained body attack that at some points he seems to be focused on his opponent's torso to the complete exclusion of the head as if he could burn a hole in his man’s chest by force of will alone. However LaMotta is much more well known for his ability to absorb damage than dish it it out. He scored only 30 KOs in 83 wins (although he did knock down Robinson multiple times) or a 28% Knockout ratio.the remarkable thing about LaMotta is that despite being stopped 4 times in 19 losses he only tasted the canvas once, against Danny Nardico- 51-13-4 (36 KO) 10 years and 103 fights into his career.
Shadowy connections:
Unfortunately it is impossible to mention LaMotta without bringing up his loss to Billy Fox whom he lost to by KO in 4 rounds. In the 40s and 50s boxing was owned by the mafia and LaMotta later admitted that he threw this fight in order to be allowed a shot at vastly underrated Frenchman Marcel Cerdan-113-4-0 (66 KO) which he won by retirement as Cerdan quit at the start of the 10th having fought 9 rounds with a dislocated arm and absorbing 104 punches in round 9. A rematch was planned but Cerdan was killed in a plane crash while flying to the fight. LaMotta defended the championship twice before losing it in the St valentine's day massacre against Robinson.
Rest well champion:
LaMotta passed away on the 19th of September 2017 at the age of 95 after reportedly battling with pneumonia for some time. the last champion of a bygone era. Remembered for his hard head, iron will and being the first man to defeat the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson-174-19-6 (109 KO). Immortalised in the Oscar winning film and by boxing fans who revere him as having one of the best chins of all time he is a key part of boxing history in the middleweight division. “No son-of-a-bitch ever knocked me off my feet” - Giacobbe “Jake” LaMotta July 10 1922- September 19th 2017
