prime zale vs prime lamotta....

Very tough fight to call. Zale's power is offset by LaMotta's iron chin. I think it would be a war in the trenches. Zale could possibly shake LaMotta once or twice & that could sway the judges in his favor in a close split decision. Jake's lack of power could also hurt him in a tight battle as this, with the judges.

 

I would favour LaMotta during both guys careers Zale didn't want anything to do with Jake among other contenders.

 

Jake for me ,Zale managed to keep away from him during his career.

 

Zale stayed away from LaMotta, Burley, Williams and Marshall.

 

Was it Zale himself or his management? Zale took on Graziano, who was a much bigger puncher than LaMotta was.

 

Love Zale but LaMotta was a class above as a fighter ... Jake by decision ...

 

Jake la motta was one tough son of a *****.

His low in swarming style would mean both of these guys would meet in the centre of the ring ripping into each - other. What would be the result?

I think zale had good technique and smarts - and might possibly be able to out brawl/box him like fullmer beat carmen basilio. But the thing about the bronx bull was, he just kept coming and would wear you down with body shot's, head shot's and plain thuggery to get his way.

Zale was alway's in good condition, so that would be a big factor in the outcome. But i'd go for a UD for la motta in an extremely bloody, hard fight!

 

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Personally I think this could go either way. Zale had good two-fisted power, was as tough as they come and could box or brawl. Power isn't going to matter much since each can take the other's best punches.

 

LaMotta would win, since he could take anything Zale threw, and though not the puncher Zale was, might have been a tad tougher.Jake takes this on a close MD over 15.

 

That's not true at all.

For starters, Graziano was favored to take the title from Zale - that alone confirms that he was, in fact, "seen as a big threat."

Secondly, you'll find no shortage of articles that touted Graziano as being as much, if not moreso, a threat to Zale's title as any other contender in the division. And while there were other articles that argued for LaMotta and/or Burley as the most dangerous contender, this was by no means a clear or universal opinion among writers at that time.

Third, Graziano was rated as THE top MW contender by the NBA. This was their rankings in April '46:
1. Graziano
2. Georgie Abrams
3. LaMotta
4. Holman Williams
5. Burley

The Ring also had Graziano rated somewhere in their top 3, right alongside LaMotta and Burley.

Also, the fight was HUGE with a capital "H", and drew about 40,000 fans to Yankee Stadium - not suggestive of a fight in which the challenger was "not seen as a big threat."

Williams first appeared in The Ring's MW rankings in '42 and held a top 5 spot until the end of '45, but Zale was in the service during nearly that entire time. After that, Williams fell rather quickly from the MW rankings, and was unranked by the end of '46. At the time Zale fought Graziano after returning from the service, he was rated over Williams by both The Ring and the NBA.

 

Actually, Zale at his peak (before the war) had very good footwork and boxing skills, which are being largely overlooked in this thread.

Here's Zale's jab and footwork on display against Al Hostak:
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close call. I slightly favor Zale.