‘Bronx Bull’ dies
Brutish ex-middleweight Lamotta was 95
Jake Lamotta, an iron-fisted battler who brawled his way to a middleweight title and was later memorialized 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, said 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 favorite 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 on his autobiography. De Niro won an Academy Award playing the troubled boxer — violent inside and outside the ring — in a Martin Scorsese film that several critics have ranked as among the top 100 movies.
“Rest in Peace, Champ,” De Niro said in a statement.
The Bronx Bull, as he was known, was 83-19-4 with 30 knockouts, between 1941 and 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 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 in a fight known as the second St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, a reference to the infamous 1929 mob killings of the same name.
Lamotta took a beating in the later rounds but refused to go down until the referee stepped in to save him from further punishment. Lamotta finished 1-5 against Robinson, whom many consider the all-time greatest boxer.
“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 1947 fight against Billy Fox, which he admitted in testimony before the Kefauver Committee, a U.S. Senate committee investigating organized crime in 1960.
On June 16, 1949, in Detroit, he became middleweight champion when Frenchman Marcel Cerdan couldn’t continue after the 10th round.
Renowned for his strong chin, and the punishment he could take, and dish out, Lamotta was knocked down only once — in a 1952 loss to light-heavyweight Danny Nardico.
Lamotta was born July 10, 1922, on New York City’s Lower East Side but was raised in the Bronx. After retiring from boxing in 1954, he owned a nightclub for a time in Miami, then dabbled in show business and commercials. He also made personal appearances and for a while in the 1970s he was a host at a topless nightclub in New York.
The 1980 film “Raging Bull,” based on Lamotta’s memoir written 10 years earlier, was nominated for eight Academy Awards. Though director Scorsese was passed over, De Niro, who gained 50 pounds to portray the older, heavier Lamotta, won the best actor award.
We hope you’re looking forward to our Nhl/golden Knights season magazine. It will cost $1.99 on newsstands, but it’s free to Review-journal readers in the Oct. 4 paper.
The magazine will be a keepsake for Las Vegas hockey fans, featuring profiles of key members of the Knights, a fan’s guide to the arena, player capsules and more.
Best of all, it will be printed with four different covers of photos of Marc-andre Fleury, Deryk Engelland, James Neal and coach Gerard Gallant. The covers will be distributed to different parts of the valley as well as on newsstands during October.
In case you missed the print version of our annual listing of team-related bars in the Sept. 7 Raiders/nfl special section, it’s also on our website.
You will find the listings sortable by teams and areas in the valley. We’ve done a lot of work to make it a comprehensive list of NFL bars. But we’re not perfect, and we might have missed a few.
Ifyouwanttoaddabar, send the information to sports producer Kira Terry (kterry@ reviewjournal.com).
Check out this year’s listings at Reviewjournal.com/ Nflbars.
Bill Bradley