Final bell for boxing’s Raging Bull LaMotta

JAKE LaMotta, the boxing champion whose memoir inspired Martin Scorsese’s 1980 film Raging Bull, has died. He was 95.

LaMotta’s daughter Christi confirmed the news in a Facebook post. “Rest in peace pop,” she captioned a photo of her late father.

LaMotta’s wife told TMZ the boxer “died in a nursing home due to complications from pneumonia”.

LaMotta (pictured) was born in the Bronx in the early 1920s to Italian immigrant parents. He became a professional boxer at 19, and fought mostly as a middleweight. His career was highlighted by a rivalry with Sugar Ray Robinson, which led to a sixfight series, of which LaMotta won only one. He did, however, win the world middleweight title in 1949, defeating Marcel Cerdan.