Sugar Ray Robinson vs. Jake LaMotta VI

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by William Walker, Jun 2, 2021.


  1. William Walker

    William Walker Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    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.
     
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2021
  2. Blaxx

    Blaxx Active Member Full Member

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    Brilliant.
    Never understood the sentiment that La Motta was winning the first half of the fight. It was a beatdown
     
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  3. IHaveAscreenName804

    IHaveAscreenName804 Member banned Full Member

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    I don't see why anybody would consider these fighters or this fight in particular to be anything special. Sugar Ray Robinson looked good in this career when he faced low level fighters like Jack LaMotta. The vast majority of his fights were against low level guys like LaMotta. Second you see guys praise LaMotta for taking a lot of shots against Robinson. Jake was a 170 pound guy who lost weight to get to middle weight. Robinson was a natural 140 pound guy. So a bigger guy took a lot of shots from a smaller guy so it means something?

    If Robinson would of turned pro in the 80's or 90's he would of been a journey at best.
     
  4. Fergy

    Fergy Walking Dead Full Member

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    Are you saying, if Sugar Ray had come a long later, he'd have being a journey man??
     
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  5. Jel

    Jel Obsessive list maker Full Member

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    Great stuff, William! I've just realised I don't actually have this in my favourite fights. Need to watch this again.
     
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  6. George Crowcroft

    George Crowcroft He Who Saw The Deep Full Member

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    Robinson really was an offensive phenom, and probably the most talented fighter ever. I'll give this a rewatch this weekend, might even check out a few other Robinson fights.
     
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  7. Indefatigable

    Indefatigable Active Member banned Full Member

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    You watch fights w a jaundiced eye. See nothing Jake is doing. That fight was even or even Jake was winning at 10. Yr fight reports never come close to what others see and history reports.
     
  8. William Walker

    William Walker Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Bull****.
     
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  9. William Walker

    William Walker Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    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.
     
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  10. William Walker

    William Walker Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    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.
     
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  11. William Walker

    William Walker Boxing Junkie Full Member

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  12. Samtotheg

    Samtotheg Active Member Full Member

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    round 1 was lamottas

    round 2 was lamottas how many of those jabs robinson kept throwing actually landed , Lamotta was countering Rays jab pretty well and the two flurries robinson didnt result in landing anything signiifcant not to mention lamotta popped ray at the end of the round for the most effective hit in that round .. that was lamottas round . But what I saw was Robinson pushing Lamotta everytime he tried to clinch so it wasnt a clinching round


    round 3 that was Robinsons best round , he beat up Jake in the clinches

    round 4 that was also a Robinson round

    round 5 I had even

    round 6 Lamotta started off well it was even then lamotta did better at the end lamottas round

    round 7 i had round seven even

    round 8 that was robinsons round

    round 9 sugar ray won that round but barely not a blow out

    round 10 sugar rays round and not a blowout

    round 11 lamotta actually pulled was winning that round after his flurry but that was the last of the gas in the tank, rest of the round ray batters a tired lamotta .robinsons round

    round 12 lamotta was tired and got beat on that was robinsons round

    round 13 robinsons round and the fight stopped

    I had it 7 to 3 with 2 rounds even Robinson before the fight was stopped and if it was a 10 round fight it would have been 5 to 3 and 2 rounds even Robinson. Good fight it was case of one guy got tired the other didnt, The announcer was off in his assessment that ray was tired .Also Robinson threw a lot of jabs that were short and he blocked a lot of those jabs from Lamotta with the rear hand , his flurries prior to round 11 didnt result in much. It can look like Robinson dominated but it was a lot closer than appeared .(I could rewatch in .25 speed but thats not how we watch and judge fights)
     
  13. IHaveAscreenName804

    IHaveAscreenName804 Member banned Full Member

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    How many slow unskilled Italians were Welterweight or Middleweight champions in the 80's or 90's? These guys were only champions back during and around Robinson's time because the Mafia controlled boxing. Robinson wasn't facing guys like Julian Jackson, Terry Norris, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, Gerald McClellan, John Mugabi,or hell even somebody like Herol Graham. Robinson was facing a bunch of slow unathletic guys and that made him look better than what he was in reality.

    Similar to the 195 to 200 pound Joe Louis. He wasn't facing George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Riddick Bowe, Evander Holyfield ect level fighters. He was fighting either a bunch of small 180 pound guys or the few bigger guys like Primo Canera, Buddy Baer, and Abe Simon who had no skills and that is why Joe Louis looked better than what he was.
     
  14. William Walker

    William Walker Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    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.
     
  15. Flash24

    Flash24 Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Maybe, But more than likely he'd embarrass everyone he faced other than a very
    select few.
     
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