Hi Devon. Good match up, I will take Benvenuti's boxing skills to prevail, at least over 12, Jake was outpointed by non champions like, Dauthuille, and Villemain, so a consummate boxer like Nino, should be able to replicate, so cuts aside, will go for Benvenuti on points. stay safe buddy, chat soon. Mike.
Though he may have been lucky in both fights, Lamotta did come from behind to ko Dauthille,and he did win an unpopular split dec over Villemain ,in their first fight. I can easily see Nino winning a dec though, it's a fight I would not put any money on.
Nino would out-Italian Jake to win on points. Benvenuti was Italian-born and Italian-bred, and when he died he was Italian dead. LaMotta was one of those New Yorkers who called themselves eye-talion but he would take the gun and leave the cannoli if left to his own devices … actually given his weight problems he’d have eaten the cannoli, taken the gun and traded it for another cannoli and swallowed that one whole too. Nino’s native Italianess would be too much for the bull.
I think I would go Benvenuti on consistency. That said, both have beaten guys which might have been problematic for the other. It might come down to form on the night.
Didn´t Lamotta beat 48-1-3 Italian Tiberi Mitri. Mitri would later ko 1 Randolph Turpin. Lamotta seemed to struggle more with French fighters. Benvenuti was a brilliant boxer but Jake managed to find ways of hitting Sugar Ray so maybe over fifteen he might come on strong over the last 5 rounds. My money would be on Nino taking a close decision but wouldn´t be surprised seeing Lamotta winning a decision of even late stoppage if Nino wasn´t at his best.
I noted elsewhere not long ago that Mitri’s KO1 of Turpin was his day’s Nunn-Kalumbay. A curious result that seems to fly in the face of all predictable data. Mitri also got KO’d in three by a Frenchman later — those cheese-eaters seem to have an edge over the pasta boys, I guess. As for Jake vs Ray Robinson, keep in mind that LaMotta was for all purposes a super middleweight (he usually weighed in the mid-160s and could drain down when forced to by contract or when he became champ) and Ray was a welter — LaMotta had double-digit pounds over him in some of their fights and was significantly bigger in all of them … yet he lost five of six and got stopped when forced to actually only be a middleweight against a Robinson who was starting to at least mature into something of a middleweight.
