Gene Fullmer vs Jake LaMotta

LaMotta by very close decision...and here's why...Fullmer looked awful but was hell to deal with...Physically strong, totally unpredictable, might club you behind the head (several X's) or even try to throw you out of the ring...But in spite of all that Fullmer won fights on a very consistant basis...and furthermore he seemed to always to have the ability to make the opponent fight his kind of fight. Opinions vary widely...I remember an old qoute by Mickey Walker and he said Fullmer could have been champ in any era...Teddy Brenner told his manager to take him back to Utah when he first saw him, Brenner thought he looked terrible.

 

LaMotta out punches him and wins a clear decision ...

 

Yeah, Fullmer gets underrated here.

 

It should of course be factored in ,that Robinson was 36 when Fullmer beat him the first time ,and nearly 40 the second. In between these, Ray managed a draw, and ,a stunning ko victory over the Mormon.

 

Bump

 

Fullmer was a brute. A good puncher with the right hand. An absolute beast.
LaMotta was strong and tough and a better boxer in the classic sense but Fullmer was a rough guy.
I think we'd get a very close fight here.

 

I agree with this as well. LaMotta's jab underatted imo.. Fullmer had an outstanding chin, that hook was something special, it had a chance to drop LaMotta as well .. but the difference is he gets back up

 

I think Fullmer would take a close decision, and the infighting would be legendary

 

My thoughts exactly, but boy what a rumble of a fight!

 

this is all true, but Robinson was a welter when LaMotta fought him, about 10 to 16 pounds lighter. Jake had 16 pounds on Ray in the one fight he won. I think Fullmer might have been able to take one out of six from a young Robinson if he had those sort of weight pulls.

 

Some things which jump out at me looking at their records.

Fullmer fought as a middle against mainly middles. Jake bounced around between middle and light-heavy, and also fought quite a few welters.

The top middles according to the Ring annual rankings during Jake's era--1941 to 1951--Tony Zale, Georgie Abrams, Ezzard Charles, Archie Moore, Charley Burley, Holman Williams*, Bert Lytell, Steve Belloise, Dave Sands, Sugar Ray Robinson*, Marcel Cerdan*, Laurent Dauthielle*, Randy Turpin.

(*Jake fought), but only defeated Robinson as a welter. Interesting that he didn't meet most of the highest ranking middles during his career.

The top middles according to the Ring annual ranking during Gene's era-1955-1961--Bobo Olson, Charles Humez*, Sugar Ray Robinson*, Ralph Jones*, Spider Webb*, Carmen Basilio*, Gustav Scholz, D-ck Tiger*, Paul Pender*, Joey Giardello*,

(*Gene fought) Shorter span at the top, but except for Olson who immediately moved out of his weight class, and the German Scholz, Fullmer met all the best of his time in his division, more so by far than LaMotta. I really didn't expect that going in.

Well, looking at Jake against the middles, Robinson was a welter and outweighed by 16 pounds in the one fight Jake won. Williams and Cerdan were aging. Dauthielle? Not much of a guy to hang atg status on. And there are some hard to explain holes in Jake's performances. Losing badly to Cecil Hudson with a 10 lb. weight pull? Lloyd Marshall, weighing 160 1/4, dominated him. Few agreed with his split decision victory over Villemain in their first fight, and Villemain won a UD in the rematch. A lot of Jake's signature wins were over welters, not only Robinson, but Zivic, Bell, and Jackie Wilson. At light-heavy, Jake did outpoint Murphy, but was stopped by both Murphy and Nardico, and those two were both badly beaten by Maxim and Matthews. And that isn't even considering Moore.

As for Fullmer, Robinson and Basilio were aging with their best days past also. But there really aren't any kind of hard to explain performances, especially from 1956 on. He seems the more consistent fighter.

 

Ok, this is where I differ with, and will no doubt **** off all the Jake fans here, as well as those who aren't Jake fans who also pick him to win. I've always thought that this fight would resembled to some degree a middleweight version of the Chuvalo-Bonavena fight where you had two bull strong, crude guys squaring off in what was expected to be a battle of two tanks...a straight on, rock em sock em slugfest with no finesse at all. However, Bonavena showed more imagination and a different style than what was expected and went on to win a close decision, with those two trips Chuvalo nade to the deck, one of them IMO a kd not influencing the final verdict. Now, a disclaimer: LaMotta was a better fighter than Chuvalo ever hoped to be...but then, Fullmer was also much better then Oscar ever was as well.
Jake would be the "straight man" here...limited to trudging forward...the aggressor for sure, whereas Fullmer would use his "Plan B" style that he used so well vs Basilio both times they fought, and the way he fought the murdurous punching Florentino Fernandez and Dlck Tiger in their draw rematch. Neither man were true punchers, but I think Fullmer was the harder puncher of the two. Fullmer was also a bit stronger than Jake...though his chin was not as LaMotta's....it was still very good....as shown vs Fernandez in that 15th round, when with his left elbow broken, was forced to use his peculiar brand of defensive skills to fend off his opponent, and had to take a few as well....using that cross armed defensive as best as he could with the broken elbow making things so difficult.
I think both Jake and Gene would have protracted moments of success vs each other, but Fullmer would unexpectedly use the ring with his superior mobility and wildness to earn a close, no doubt disputed 15 round decision.

 

For me it's like throwing darts at the board. Since Jake was denied so many title fights for years, I do not how anyone can really say what his full potential really could have been.. He had a great chance to rattle off 8 or more wins vs #1 or 2 contenders, but was denied..And not much footage from '40 - '51 .. let me know where I can find it

 

I put only Dlck Tiger ahead of Fullmer in terms of strength,...so Jake wouldn't be "outstrengthing" him on this bout.

 

You're a visionary like me PP69 regarding this fight....and the underrated Gebe Fullmer.