Jake Lamotta Personality before and after?

I sat and drank wine and ate cheese and onion crisps with him and his fiance in a hotel bar in Derby England with him just over 2 years ago and he was very funny - but he was very firey too - had to be a bit careful on certain subjects but yeah wouldnt want to see him really lose it even at 89 as he was then haha but yeah he was pretty funny to and had a lot of opinions too

 

the intensity of the times, the grinds of a top boxing career and the anxiety of trying to secure a title might have made for an anxious unhappy camper through those days. But after it was all over and he got what he worked for by fair means or foul, I'm sure he lightened up some.

he would be by no means unique in that department anyway.

 

Yeah, the times made him like that, he had a very terrible upbringing, he was a non educated criminally inclined street kid who made it to the top of the most brutal and corrupt sport around that takes a big toll on you mentall and physically. After his career he was surrounded by a certain type of person who would probably have a impact on how he behaved and carried himself being in the limelight, surronded by educated, respectable people and such.

But I seriously think Lamotta has some sort of antisocial personality disorder or was/is bipolar.

 

With Jakes style of fighting i Think only a person with a have crazy personality would be able to pull all that off. Hes talked about his regrets before, said if he could go back an do one thing in life it would be to treat his ex wife vicki better

 

I just came upon this thread. Real interesting to me as I read his book like 30 yrs ago. Anyone else meet him in person with stories to share?

 

Ive got a several stories about Jake from people Ive met along the way who knew him. He was a pretty shitty person. One of my friends was telling me that about 20 yrs ago or so, when Jake was in his late 60s or early 70s, he was walking down the street in the city and happened to glance down an alley. There was Jake mugging some guy. My friend, who knew Jake, says "Jake! What the hell are you doing?" Jake answers: "Keeping in practice..." Then goes back to kicking the **** out of the guy. He admitted to raping two women in his first book. In his second book he tells about how his wife goes into labor while hes playing cards in his ratty, rundown apartment (this is in the 1970s I think). His wife is standing there nearly in tears begging him to take her to the hospital and Jake just sits there and keeps on drinking and playing cards (Graziano was there playing as well if I recall the story correctly). If you listen to the commentary he does on the Raging Bull DVD he starts to lose his temper a couple of times with his nephew (who kind of interviews him and keeps the commentary moving). Another friend of mine has an old training diary Jake kept in the early 1950s. He wanted to get the thing signed by Jake at Canastota but was advised by Hank Kaplan not to try because Jake was likely to try and reclaim it.

 

It's really amazing he is still alive with all this marbles at 93. Amazing genetics this guy has.

 

Holy ****..not much to like about the guy at all. Thanks for posting.

 

I had a brief Conversation with Jake this past October. Unfortunately it didn't go so well, he had great difficulty hearing me, there was a lot of background noise and for someone of his age that can be a disaster. I asked him about Cerdan, and he said great fighter, tough.

 

He was apparently genuinely upset that Cerdan died. Supposedly he cried. Its one of those idiosyncrosies about him that he could be sensitive about something like that and pretty heartless in other areas. I have a film of him being interviewed by French TV right after Cerdan's death and he is giving his condolences and talking about how to honor Cerdan he will now fight not just for the USA but also for France.

 

He came out here in 1988 and charmed the hell out of us with his humour and stories. He was so charming and recounted all his old war stories in a very entertaining manner.

People mellow out as they grow older, but I don't doubt any of the wild stories we've all heard and read about.

 

Tell you what though...there are two guys in particular I would not like to meet in a dark alley, or any alley for that matter.
One of them is LaMotta.

 

His wife Denise was with him, and when he couldn't pick up what I was saying, she kindly relayed for me my questions in his ear, but unfortunately that is all I could garner from him was that Cerdan was a great fighter and tough. I wanted to learn more details on their encounter and stay away from asking questions on Robinson and the Raging Bull movie as I am sure that is what he is most often asked. I had heard that as well, that he was genuinely affected by Marcel's untimely death.

 

Nah, Fenech.