Sugar Ray Robinson vs. Jake LaMotta VI

My sixth time watching truly one of the ATG battles of boxing.

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1. As expected, LaMotta came barreling in, swarming Ray with quick flurries to the body, while Ray mostly fought on the backfoot for most of the round, snapping in several good jabs throughout the round. Fought at a very brisk pace, LaMotta edged it not because of greater effectiveness, but a larger quanity of punches. LaMotta.
2. LaMotta opened with equal aggression, but it didn't count here. While LaMotta landed some flurries early on, Ray was an absolute whirlwind, either fighting defensively or offensively, he was throwing a torrent of left jabs and hooks, and in my opinion, won the round clearly. Robinson.
3. Ray came out blasting, actually, and kept it up for the full 3 minutes. Just 3 rounds into the fight, and already Ray's sheer aggression and blinding speed won him the round, and there was nothing LaMotta could do. Robinson.
4. Ray went all out, perhaps too much. He eagerly went at LaMotta, alternately throwing lefts and rights. And while LaMotta was able to duck or bob and weave his way out of many of them, roughly half of them still found their target. Robinson.
5. Although Ray jabbed throughout, LaMotta kept him offset and backing up with occasional left hooks. Still, throwing a decent punch every now and then doesn't win
rounds. Robinson.
6. Ray came out in good form, scoring two good left hooks right off, backing LaMotta up. However, Ray was a little less convincing in round 6. LaMotta did get in some thudding blows in the last minute, but it wasn't enough. Robinson.
7. Ray fought with renewed purpose in round 7. He was still moving well, but he was making greater effort to avoid LaMotta's punches, rolling a lot of them well and absorbing others just as well. And there seemed to me an added speed and fury to his punchers, which were short and full of snap. LaMotta got in his fair share of blows as well, but it just didn't compare. Robinson.
8. Ray was doing most of the leading at first, but as soon as LaMotta took initiative and hit Ray with a fusillade of about eight body shots. Ray backed off and LaMotta was quick to re-engage. Robinson threw a left jab as LaMotta moved in, glancing LaMotta's face, and LaMotta simultaneously landing a big right cross and Ray quickly countered with half a dozen of his own body shots, now backing LaMotta up. What an exchange! The rest of the round proved almost as compelling scrap as both men tried to outdo one another with short, powerful combinations. Robinson.
9. The round clearly went to Robinson. He hit LaMotta again and again, and LaMotta had little reply for Ray's blistering speed. Robinson.
10. Ray's dominance only intensified in the 10th. He outmaneuvered and outpunched LaMotta at every turn. Ray's flurries actually became even faster and stronger, and LaMotta had no reply for Ray's onslaughts. Robinson.
11. Ah yes, the critical 11th. LaMotta sought after Ray desperately from the opening bell, and he finally trapped him on the ropes for his greatest rally of the fight, pounding Ray with twenty unanswered blows. Finally Ray opened up, and he payed LaMotta back more than tenfold. For the rest of the round he BATTERED an exhausted LaMotta all over the ring. The 11th alone was pure torture, and to think there was more to come! I thought the bell would never sound. Robinson.
12. The next three minutes of brutality raises two excellent questions. First comes the natural question, how could LaMotta stand all this punishment? He was so sore he couldn't hardly move. God. Perhaps more importantly is the overlooked question though. How could Ray maintain such a brutal work rate at this stage of the fight? To think there is yet one more round. Robinson.
13. To watch the 13th one must ask himself, was it anymore brutal than the previous two rounds? Would to say that the referee stopped it because LaMotta had merely had enough be accurate? Not exactly. For those who think not, LaMotta was reeling and probably heading towards the canvas when the referee intervened, not preventing LaMotta from going down, only delaying the inevitable (later achieved by Danny Nardico).

Final score going into round 13: 11-1 for Robinson. Those who believe LaMotta was winning the fight for six rounds are highly delusional and need to reacquaint themselves with the fight.

Verdict: GREAT, GREAT FIGHT. Not only a great fight. A great knockout. A great beatdown. A great tactical fight. A great performance by Ray. Certainly a top five for him, if not his greatest victory. One of those fights every fight fan needs to see. A non-negotiable top 35.

 

Bull****.

 

No way could it be even. Robinson would throw 100 jabs per round and LaMotta would throw a few flurries of about thirty punches total, maybe a few hooks, and LaMotta had a useless jab. You gotta throw a lot more than LaMotta did to win fights.

Why thank you sir, because what a lot of others see is quite frankly skewed.

 

Might I suggest something sir? Just walking onto my thread and criticizing it is not contributing anything to the forum. Make a contribution. Let's see you do a post on Robinson-LaMotta VI. We would all love to see it.

 

@Jason Thomas

 

Not many.

However, how many of these middleweights could have taken all the punches that LaMotta took? Hagler would've been the only one to survive.