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Legendary rivals Sugar Ray Robinson (R) battles Jake LaMotta for the middleweight championship at Chicago Stadium, in February 1951. Photo: AP

Jake LaMotta, boxing’s legendary ‘Raging Bull’, dies at 95

Former middleweight boxing champion whose life in and out of the ring was depicted in the film ‘Raging Bull’ has died, his fiancée says

Obituaries

Jake LaMotta, the former middleweight boxing champion whose life in and out of the ring was depicted in the film “Raging Bull,” for which Robert De Niro won an Academy Award, has died, his fiancée said on Wednesday. He was 95.

LaMotta died on Tuesday at a Miami-area hospital from complications of pneumonia, according to fiancée Denise Baker.

“Rest in Peace, Champ,” De Niro said in a statement.

The Bronx Bull, as he was known in his fighting days, compiled an 83-19-4 record with 30 knockouts, in a career that began in 1941 and ended in 1954.

LaMotta fought the great Sugar Ray Robinson six times, handing Robinson the first defeat of his career and losing the middleweight title to him in a storied match.

In the fight before he lost the title, LaMotta saved the championship in movie-script fashion against Laurent Dauthuille. Trailing badly on all three scorecards, LaMotta knocked out the challenger with 13 seconds left in the fight.

Former middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta poses in New York in 2009. LaMotta learned to fight with an ice pick in his hand in a Bronx schoolyard. The former champion has died at age 95. Photo: Reuters

LaMotta threw a fight against Billy Fox, which he admitted in testimony before the Kefauver Committee, a US Senate committee investigating organised 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 November 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 could not continue after the 10th round.

Of the claim that Cerdan had to quit because of a shoulder injury, LaMotta said in 1970: “Something’s bound to happen to you in a tough fight, cut eye, broken nose or broken hand or something like that. So you could make excuses out of anything, you know, but you got to keep on going if you’re a champ or you’re a contender.”

LaMotta and actor Robert De Niro attending a special screening of ‘Raging Bull’ to celebrate its 25th anniversary and DVD release in New York. LaMotta, the former world middleweight boxing champion, was portrayed by De Niro in the film, has died at age 95. Photo: AFP

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 – in his 106 fights.

LaMotta’s first defence was supposed to be a rematch with Cerdan, but the Frenchman was killed when a plane en route to the United States crashed in the Azores in 1949.

So in his first defence, LaMotta outpointed Tiberio Mitri on July 12, 1950, in New York, then on September 13, he rallied to knock out Dauthuille at Detroit.

LaMotta’s title reign ended on February 14, 1951, when Robinson stopped him in the 13th round in Chicago. In a fight that became known as the St Valentine’s Day Massacre, LaMotta gave as good as he got in the early rounds, then took tremendous punishment. He would not go down.

In their second match, on February 5, 1943, in New York, LaMotta won a 10-round decision, giving Robinson his first defeat in the 41st fight of his illustrious career.

LaMotta, accompanied by his wife Vicky, arrives at Grand Central Terminal in New York after defeating Marcel Cerdan in June 1949. Photo: AP

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 Martin Scorsese was passed over, De Niro, who gained 50 pounds to portray the older, heavier LaMotta, won the best actor award.

In 1998, LaMotta, who had four daughters, lost both of his sons. Jake LaMotta Jnr, 51, died from cancer in February. Joe LaMotta, 49, was killed in a plane crash off Nova Scotia in September.

A funeral in Miami and a memorial service in New York City are being planned, Baker said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: De Niro leads tributes to Raging Bull legend
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