Jake LaMotta
Giacobbe La Motta , better known as Jake LaMotta, nicknamed "The Bronx Bull" and "The Raging Bull", is a former
boxer who was world middleweight champion and whose life has been as controversial outside the ring as it was inside it.
Boxing records
LaMotta, who compiled a record of 83 wins, 19 losses and 4 draws with 30 wins by way of
knockout, was the first man to beat Sugar Ray Robinson, when he dropped Robinson in the first round and outpointed him over the course of ten rounds during the second fight of their legendary six bout rivalry.
Encyclopedia
Giacobbe La Motta , better known as
Jake LaMotta, nicknamed "
The Bronx Bull" and "
The Raging Bull", is a former
boxer who was world middleweight champion and whose life has been as controversial outside the ring as it was inside it.
Boxing records
LaMotta, who compiled a record of 83 wins, 19 losses and 4 draws with 30 wins by way of
knockout, was the first man to beat Sugar Ray Robinson, when he dropped Robinson in the first round and outpointed him over the course of ten rounds during the second fight of their legendary six bout rivalry. LaMotta lost the other five. In 1948, he was knocked out in four rounds by Billy Fox. The fight with Fox would come back to haunt him later in life.
Early life
LaMotta won the world title in 1949 in
Detroit against
Frenchman Marcel Cerdan, who was the world champion. Cerdan, called by many
boxing critics the greatest champion ever from France, dislocated his arm in the first round and gave up before the start of the tenth, the official scoring being LaMotta winner by a knockout in ten because the bell had already rung to begin that round when Cerdan announced he was quitting. A rematch was arranged, but while Cerdan was flying back to the
United States to fight the rematch, his
Air France Lockheed Constellation crashed at the
Azores, killing everyone on board. LaMotta met two challengers and beat them, and then he was challenged by Robinson on their rivalry's sixth fight. Held on February 14, 1951, the fight became known as boxing's version of
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Robinson won by a technical knockout in the thirteenth round, when the fight was stopped with LaMotta lying on the ropes. In 1953, LaMotta shocked the sports world when he was called to testify by the
FBI in the hearings they were holding against some
mafia groups. LaMotta said during the hearing, perhaps not realizing that he was also harming his own image, that he had thrown the fight in 1948 with Billy Fox in exchange for a shot against world champion Cerdan. Throwing the fight affected his reputation greatly, but he still believes that it was worthwhile.
After retirement, LaMotta bought a few bars and became a stage actor and stand up comedian. He also appeared in over 15 motion pictures, including
The Hustler, with
Paul Newman and
Jackie Gleason. LaMotta played the bartender.
Raging Bull
Nearing 1980, Hollywood executives approached LaMotta with the idea of a movie about his life, based on LaMotta's 1970 memoir
. The film,
Raging Bull is a 1980 [i] film directed by Martin Scorsese [i], adapted by Paul Schrader [i] and Mardik Martin [i] ...
, was a huge success both for director
Martin Scorsese and actor
Robert De Niro, who gained about 60 pounds during the shooting of the film, to play the older, corpulent, broken-down LaMotta in the scenes of LaMotta's later life.
The movie depicted a violent and problematic LaMotta who once even went as far as beating his own brother, manager Joey LaMotta, accusing him and his wife of having an affair.
In a 2004 interview, LaMotta recalled that after attending the premiere of
Raging Bull with his by then ex-wife , he told her he could not believe he was that bad and apologized. Vicky replied: "No...you were worse!"
Later life
In 1998, his son Joseph LaMotta died in the
Swissair flight that crashed off the coast of
Nova Scotia,
Canada.
LaMotta has been active on the speaking and
autograph circuit and has published several books about his career and his wife and his fights with Robinson.
He is a member of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.
External links
