how do you explain that Lamotta was able to beat SRR that one time?

Bull****! Jake's taking on pussies like Robinson 6X, Lloyd Marshall, Williams, Fritzie Zivic 4X, Satterfield, Dellicurti 3X, Bell 2X, Villemain 2X, Murphy 2X, Hairston 2X, Tommy Yarosz, Dauthuille 2X, Lytell and a host of other knock-offs, stiffs, wimps, pansies, novices and tomato cans. He spent his whole career artificially fattening up his dossier on losers like these just so he could avoid Burley. Just a scared and evasive skirt wearing punk who would do anything to avoid a competitive fight or risk a loss that would mar his pristine record.

 

The bout shortly before Robinson when in the army.

 

Who else of the "Murderer's Row" should LaMotta have fought though? Burley, but that's about it.

Burley and LaMotta were usually ranked #1 & #2 respectively, along with Holman Williams in the top 3, but neither were given a title shot in years. A fight between the two, while very important historically, would have likely done little but eliminate the loser from contention without improving the winner's standing. Atleast the Burley-Williams series didn't. Of course it would have been more important for Burley as he could have added a win over a popular LaMotta to his already impressive record, but then again it did not keep Lloyd Marshall from being avoided by the title holders.

 

Marshall wasn't exactly a middle, making 160 was hard for him although he could make it with a struggle. He was more so a 168 lb fighter. Even with a win over LaMotta, his record at MW doesn't match up to LaMotta's.

Williams and Burley were of course great, and along with LaMotta were rated top 3 for a number of years in the 1940's.

LaMotta was better than Zale and Cerdan in my opinion. He did not fight Burley, but he still mixed it with tougher opposition than Zale, especially post-war, and Cerdan whose opponents were mostly European level fighters, and not necessarily even top of the class in Europe.

 

Crap!

 

Does Zale have a case for one of the worst undisputed champions ever? On account how he faced neither of his seemingly top 3 challengers. Perhaps his top 4.

 

Him being in the army, and coming back probably a diminished fighter lessens his "crime" in my eyes, after all Zale did fight good competition during his peak years. Gus Lesnevich was as guilty of the same thing at light heavyweight, choosing to pick fights with built up contenders like Freddie Mills and Billy Fox instead of his real challengers, namely Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore.

 

But you have Williams, Burley, LaMotta, Robinson and possibly Marshall as well. That's a lot of deserving top contenders not to face.

 

I think matters in the hands of Scotty Monteith are pretty safe!


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[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]When the bel lowed Robinson as the winner, Wakefield shouted: wasn't that a lousy decision." . Wakefield learned later that the little man was Scotty Monteith[/SIZE]


http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...IBAJ&pg=2180,2570614&dq=robinson+scotty&hl=en

 

This. :deal

 

That's all post-war though, and I don't blame him for not fighting Robinson or Marshall.

Choosing Graziano over Burley and LaMotta was a business move though, as Rocky was the newest hype around for knocking over a couple of aged welterweights in fights that were too exciting and competitive to have proven his standing in the division. But admittedly they did give the fans three great fights for the middleweight title, even if the fighters involved were probably not the best the division could offer.

 

Didn't Burley or Williams have any claim for a title shot before the war?

 

Nice one.:good

 

Graziano was rated as the top challenger by the NBA and #3 by Ring Magazine when their first fight was signed.

 

lamotta is top 10 mw for sure