BULLFIGHTER
Ring legend LaMotta was the slugger with a touch of Hollywood
JAKE LaMOTTA became a cult figure to a new generation of boxing fans long after his ring career had ended. The former world middleweight champion died yesterday aged 95 from complications of pneumonia but his legend will endure.
Hollywood’s celluloid version of LaMotta’s life, with Robert De Niro in the lead role in the 1980 movie
raging Bull, based on his autobiography, offered a fascinating insight into the mind of a man who divided opinion like few other sportsmen of his generation.
Born Giacobbe LaMotta in New York on July 10, 1922, the ‘Bronx Bull’ subjected many of his 106 opponents to savage beatings, earning a reputation as a bully because of his brawling style.
Certainly, he was a slugger who lacked grace and finesse. But despite his lack of artistry and a truly big punch, LaMotta aspired to the status of world champion in an era of great middleweights.
He won the world middleweight title in June 1949, beating Marcel Cerdan, and held it for two years before his nemesis, Sugar Ray Robinson, ended his reign.
While his style of fighting may not have endeared him to the critics, few questioned his bravery. Often forced to take as much punishment as he doled out, LaMotta also had one of the strongest chins in boxing history.
He is best remembered for his six-fight rivalry with Robinson. Each bout was close but he won just one of them despite dropping arguably the best pound-forpound fighter of all time on more than one occasion.
The son of an Italian emigrant from Messina, although only 5ft 8ins tall, LaMotta also fought at light-heavyweight, amassing a career record of 83 wins, 19 defeats and four draws before hanging up his gloves in 1954.
Born into abject poverty, LaMotta had been forced by his father into fighting other children to entertain neighbouring adults and help pay the rent. He turned professional at the age of 19 in 1941 but was rejected for military service because of a mastoid operation.
After going his first 15 fights unbeaten, LaMotta lost his 16th to Jimmy Reeves in Reeves’ hometown of Cleveland and chaos erupted, with fights breaking out around the ring.
It was a portent of what was to come, for LaMotta lived a turbulent life and had alleged links to the mob.
He was also alleged to have thrown a 1947 fight in return for getting his world title shot.
His reputation for violence also included accusations of beating up at least one of his seven wives.
While the architect of much of his misfortune, he suffered an appalling double tragedy in 1998.
Following the death of his elder son, Jake LaMotta Jr, from cancer in February of that year, his younger son, Joseph, died in the crash of a Swissair Flight 111 just seven months later.
After retirement, he owned and managed bars and also became a stage actor and stand-up comedian.
In 1958, he was arrested and charged with introducing men to an underage girl at a club he owned in Miami and was convicted, serving six months on a chain gang, although he always maintained his innocence.
He also appeared in a number of films, including The Hustler starring Paul Newman, in a cameo role as a bartender.
In later life, he remained active on the speaking and autograph circuit and is a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
The news of his passing was announced in a Facebook post by his daughter Christi.
His niece, Diane Ramaglia Bonita, also paid tribute on Facebook, writing: ‘A legend has just left for heaven — my uncle and middleweight champ, Jake LaMotta.’
Undoubtedly one of the most revered fighters in history, LaMotta, reflecting on his career, once said: ‘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.’