I met jake lamotta last night

The pootang came later :hey - didn't get home til about 4am -

he hinted that it was a hand thing - but he said something along the lines of why should i waste time hitting a god damn bag when i can just get in a ring and just fight someone for real

 

thanks dougie - it was a lifetime higlight I think - previous one was meeting Muhammad Ali - but this outshines that just on the basis of getting to sit at a bar with the guy and get him a drink and just chat to him for ages

 

got loads of pics on my iphone including a classic where he's giving me an uppercut right under the chin - had a proffessional picture done with him aswell which they framed for me. I complemented him on the suit jacket he was wearing at one point and his wife said that he'd had it made for him by a good friend of his Al Certo who has a suit making place under an italian dehli place he runs - Jake also said he met Rocky Marciano on tons of occassions and said he was "a great guy - reeeaaall niiicce guy - never boasted or braaagged - a lovely guy!!" "he woulda beaten Tyson!" One interesting snippet that I'd never really known about Jake (which came up when I was talking to him about Eugene Hairston) Jake is also extremely hard of hearing - has been all his life from a young age - something I never knew - I'd wrongly assumed it was just an age thing but apparently he always had bad hearing from an early age - oh also when someone mentioned the Fox dive to him he basically likened his thoughts on it the famous scene from On The Waterfront about taking the short end money for the title shot in the ball park - of the mobs guys he simply said "I wasn't afraid of any of dem ratsss!!!!"

PS Jake will be heading back to the states in a couple days - think they were going to New Jersey or some place

 

In Derby a city in the midlands region of the UK - the place where the evening was held regularly stages fights (went to see a friend of a friend fight there about a year ago) and boxing nights - the guy who was sitting to my right at the table for the meal was at the same place 2 weeks ago to see fck Roy Jones!!! Can't beleive I missed that one - he said when he arrived he went to use the lift to and the doors opened and he stepped into the lift and it was just him and Jonesey chatting about this and that - he said he was a really funny guy - he'd also seen Tim Witherspoon, Frank Bruno, and Tyson at the same venue - I'm going to order a list of their coming boxing events for the next few months - coz last night was literally one of the best nights ever period - ps Jakes latest fiance is an absolute stunner!! Totally gorgeous - she's about half his age - she sang New York New York at the end of the night - I've been singing it all day today

Oh and at one point I did say to him - did you spar with any other great fighters - any other big names that you never faced in your career?? And he went "I sparred with everybody!!! Lotsa heavyweights!!" But he didn't expand on that one because this guy from the local rag kept interjecting trying to conduct his own interview with him - think the guy from the paper was getting a little peeved with me hahaha

 

Yeah I think he was saying some stuff with his tongue a little (but only a little) in his cheek - every fighter I brought up he first words would be loud "aaagghhh I'da knaaacked him ooouuutt!!" but he had this kind of miuschevious grin on his face like and then he'd go "No he was a great fighter - he said "I woulda loved to have got the distance with Louis" - he really sounded as though he really loved Joe Louis - he said was ringside for Louis-Marciano aswell and said "it was saaaad to see" he said he was desperately rooting for Louis to get through alright - he was funny with his words - I'd say did you think Marcel Cerdan was a great fighter (I do) and he'd go "Naaaaa he wasn't a great fighter:nono - he was a good fighter but he wasn't a great fighter." - He seemed to reserve the term great for only the top top top fighters in his eyes - he kept coming back to Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano and Muhammad Ali - "now they were great fighders!!"