Jake LaMotta dies

He inspired Southpaw?

 

Convicted in 1957 of encouraging a minor (15 year old girl) to be a prostitute. Between this and the fact that he physically was physically abusive to (at least) his first two wives, means that I don't exactly feel as saddened by his passing as might otherwise have been the case.

As a fighter, he was brilliant. Ferocious pressure fighter with some underrated skills (including a terrific jab). One of the few prominent contenders to face members of the Murderer's Row (Lytell, Williams and Marshall). First to defeat Robinson. Faced and defeated a score other other tough contenders. Inflicted a hard beating on the vaunted Cerdan to win the undisputed middleweight championship in a tough era. Pretty easy for me to reserve a space for him in the top ten of my all time great middleweights.

But as a person, he was pond scum. Just a vile and violent reprobate.

So, condolences to his family and friends, and yes, one of the best middleweights in history has died.

But, to hell with him. If such a place exists, there's a spot reserved for his arrival.

 

GTFOH!

 

Source? That's the first time I've heard of this.

 

Was heavily alluded to in Raging Bull, was it not?

 

I don't remember. But Drew is right.

http://sports.jrank.org/pages/2703/LaMotta-Jake-Fall-from-Grace.html

 

Had actually forgotten about LaMotta's misdeeds. Great fighter, bad man - much like Tyson.

EDIT: besides being a violent sociopath - which was unflinchingly depicted by Scorcese.

 

The New York Times.

 

Was he vile & violent All his life - all 95 years??

Cos if not he could still - on balance, overall etc - be a decent enough guy, no?

 

Wouldn't consign him to eternal damnation on the basis of my limited knowledge of his life. Do his transgressions impact on my assessment of his quality as a fighter? Obviously not. Very few boxers are exemplary human beings.

 

To my knowledge, he never really expressed much in the way of remorse for what he did. No one is all good or all bad, but his actions throughout much of his life, and the lack of regret that he had, indicate that this wasn't someone who would be considered a nice guy in any way, shape or form.

 

RIP Champ..

 

RIP champ
"You never knocked me down Ray,you never knocked me down"

 

I didn't read the books but that's why he's in jail at the end of the movie.

 

He's got nothing on Joe Grim "The Human Punching Bag". That freak did in real life what Homer Simpson did in a cartoon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Grim