I have bought almost all The Ring magazines from 39-51. They have a fight reports from ringside by various local writers and correspondents. I decided I wanted to read of the career and rise of LaMotta. It is very interesting paging through the fight reports and finding buried little blurbs. Reading the accounts of his fights I am surprised at how many times the words savage, brutal and the like proceed the word beating in the descriptions of what he does to his opponents. As I had heard from oldtimers like Arcel Brown Bimstein Dundee etc. to go 10 or 15 w/ Jake you had to be of hearty stock. If there was even a glimmer of doubt in you, he would enlarge it. Very interesting reading in time reports as these fights of his career played out.
Did you know that LaMotta was rated 28th in a list of the best fighters of the last 50 years by The Ring Magazine in 1996?
Then again, plenty of opponents were able to control his aggression with footwork and jab, and using uppercuts and short hooks if he managed to get closer.
and yet when you watch him fight he looks skilled ...he's a technician ....Miguel Cotto with a granite chin
LaMotta out jabbed Robi in their final bout, Robi admitted this in an interview featuring both men on youtube, but it was hooks that Robi used to twart LaMotta`s effective hard to read jab, right hooks to the body made Jake gas, Robi`s jabbing and footwork alone did not win him the final bout.
The ultimate insult; comparing Jake to Cotto. And btw markant you read that about the robin rt hooks. It was way more than that. That rates rt up there with yr 96 mag. The one thing you read that you will repeat forever. Watch the fookin' fight saad. ! And read and see many variations of these events
It might be even worse he didn't have power / bad hands. The beating would be prolonged and possibly permanent. Lamotta vs Basilio would be an awesome fantasy bout.
I love watching LaMotta at the end vs. Murphy. Even mired by that time in boxing senility, Jakes shows the monster he must have been.
ESPN classic use to show that Murphy figjt back in the day. I remember watching that fight with my dad just before he passed away. He grew up in New York and was a huge Lamotta fan. Lamotta was a beast for sure.
While reading ringside reports of Jake LaMotta's bouts, I didn't find one of his bouts which was described as boring. - Chuck Johnston
