Jake LaMotta’s best fights should be remembered more than ‘Raging Bull’

Former middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta died on Tuesday from complications of pneumonia at the age of 95. If the name is familiar and you’re not a boxing fan, you probably know his story from the 1980 Martin Scorsese film Raging Bull.

That film stars Robert De Niro as LaMotta, one of the most bruising and intense boxers to ever step into the ring. The film tells LaMotta’s life story, from his in-ring prowess (and failures) to his struggles with anger and personal relationships outside of the ring. It’s a critically acclaimed movie, and one that’s worth a watch.

But you can find clips of De Niro, in peak form, boxing his way around a movie set all over the place in the wake of LaMotta’s passing. What you should be looking at, though, is actual footage of LaMotta’s action in the ring.

As a boxer he was known as brutish and overwhelming — a bully. He wasn’t the most technical fighter, but he often lured some of the best technical fighters into sloppy brawls. Sometimes those brawls went his way and sometimes they didn’t, but he was always interesting, always exciting, and makes for a fascinating study for anyone unfamiliar with his career outside of the aforementioned movie.

The Bronx Bull, as he was known, amassed a career record of 83-19-4 with 30 knockouts. He is notable for facing Sugar Ray Robinson a grand total of six times, and especially notable for giving Robinson his first career loss. He’d go on to lose to Robinson five times, but every fight was a brutal slugfest and even when he was beaten, he was never broken in the ring.

“I couldn’t take my eyes off of him,” Robinson said of his opponent in his 1970 autobiography. “He was on the stool in his corner, his leopard-skin robe thrown over him. His handlers were all around him, but he was snarling at them and waving them away. The doctor was checking him, but Jake wanted no part of him. On his way out of the ring, he ignored the hands reaching up to him to help him down the steps.’’

LaMotta knocked down Robinson several times over the course of their six fights. And he had plenty of others worth watching. You should do yourself a favor and watch some of his work, and we’ll include some of them below.

LaMotta became a world champion for the first time on this day. Cerdan apparently dislocated his arm early in the bout, but it was still a good one, with LaMotta scoring a knockdown in the first. The knockdown is what apparently damaged his arm, and LaMotta controlled the bout from there into the ninth. The 10th round officially started before Cerdan quit.

In the video above, you can see LaMotta’s relentless style. He pursues his opponent with a dogged air about him, never looking quite like he’s defensive sound, but always more evasive than expected. He could slip punches with the best of them.

After winning his first title defense against Tiberio Mitri, LaMotta faced Laurent Dauthuille for the second time. They had previously fought before LaMotta became champion, a bout that Dauthuille won by decision. By the 15th round of this bout, Dauthuille was ahead on the cards again and LaMotta looked well on his way to losing his belt.

Instead, LaMotta began one of his ugly, overwhelming exchanges and he landed hard. He landed several times, sending Dauthuille into the ropes, where he was counted out with just 13 seconds left in the bout. The decision would have been Dauthuille’s.

No video embed here because LaMotta’s fights with Robinson are scattered across YouTube. Your best bet to take these in is to watch one of many retrospectives made on the fights, or highlights featuring all of the bouts.

The fights with Robinson are some of the best the sport has to offer. LaMotta knocked down Robinson in the first round of their first fight, but ultimately lost a unanimous decision. The rematch saw LaMotta land a right on Robinson’s head and a left to the body that put him through the ropes. Robinson was saved by the bell at a count of nine, but LaMotta ended up taking a unanimous decision.

LaMotta also scored a knockdown of Robinson in the seventh round of their third fight, a count that went all the way to nine. Robinson won the fight via unanimous decision. Their fourth was also a decision win for Robinson.

The fifth may have been their best and toughest bout. In that one, Robinson earned a split-decision victory over 12 rounds, but the decision was widely criticized and many believe LaMotta was the true victor there.

The sixth and final bout between the two occurred on Feb. 14, 1951, on Valentine’s Day. It became known as boxing’s version of the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, with LaMotta slowing down big time in the final two rounds, taking a beating. Robinson took a TKO victory in the 13th round, but LaMotta was against the ropes and never actually went to the ground.

Robinson never knocked LaMotta down in six fights.

This isn’t LaMotta’s greatest fight or even one of his top five, but it’s an important one. It’s his last career bout, one that he would eventually lose via split decision. It was a controversial decision, one that ultimately led to LaMotta finally retiring. The bout was contested at light heavyweight, and in it you can still see LaMotta’s grinding, bruising style. This writer thinks he got the better of Kilgore, even if the judges did not.