Raging Bull Jake LaMotta dies
Boxer immortalized by Robert De Niro in 1980 movie classic
Jake LaMotta, an iron-fisted battler who brawled his way to a middleweight title and was later portrayed by Robert De Niro in the film Raging Bull, has died. He was 95.
The former middleweight champion died Tuesday at a Miami-area hospital from complications of pneumonia, according to his longtime fiancee, Denise Baker.
LaMotta handed Sugar Ray Robinson his first defeat and reigned for nearly two years as middleweight champion during a time boxing was one of America’s biggest sports. He was a fan favourite who fought with fury, though he admitted to once intentionally losing a fight to get in line for a title bout.
LaMotta gained fame with a new generation because of the 1980 film based loosely on his autobiography from a decade earlier.
De Niro won an Academy Award playing the troubled boxer — violent both inside and outside the ring — in a Martin Scorsese film that several critics have ranked as among the top 100 movies ever made.
“Rest in Peace, Champ,” De Niro said in a statement.
The Bronx Bull, as he was known in his fighting days, compiled an 8319-4 record with 30 knockouts, in a career that began in 1941 and ended in 1954. But it was the movie that unflinchingly portrayed him as a violent and abusive husband — he was married six times — that is remembered even more.
“I'm no angel,” he said in a 2005 interview.
LaMotta fought the great Sugar Ray Robinson six times, handing Robinson the first defeat of his career in 1943 and losing the middleweight title to him in a storied match on Feb. 14, 1951, at Chicago Stadium.
Robinson stopped a bloodied LaMotta in the 13th round of their scheduled 15-round bout in a fight that became known as the second St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
LaMotta took a beating in the later rounds of the fight, but refused to go down until the referee stepped in to end it.
LaMotta finished 1-5 in six fights against Robinson.
“I fought Sugar Ray Robinson so many times it’s a wonder I don't have diabetes,” LaMotta was fond of saying.
LaMotta threw a fight against Billy Fox, which he admitted in testimony before the Kefauver Committee, a U.S. Senate committee investigating organized crime in 1960.
“I purposely lost a fight to Billy Fox because they promised me that I would get a shot to fight for the title if I did,” LaMotta said in 1970 interview printed in Peter Heller’s 1973 book In This Corner: 40 World Champions Tell Their Stories.
LaMotta was “stopped” by Fox in the fourth round on Nov. 14, 1947, in Madison Square Garden. He didn’t get a title shot until 10 fights later.
On June 16, 1949, in Detroit, he became middleweight champion when the Frenchman Marcel Cerdan couldn’t continue after the 10th round.
LaMotta's title reign ended when Robinson stopped him in the 13th round in Chicago.
In their second match, on Feb. 5, 1943, in New York, LaMotta won a 10-round decision, giving Robinson his first defeat of his career.
LaMotta was born July 10, 1922, on New York’s Lower East Side but was raised in the Bronx. After retiring from boxing in 1954, he owned a nightclub in Miami, then dabbled in show business and commercials.
De Niro, who gained 50 pounds to portray the older, heavier LaMotta, won the best actor award.