How do you rate Jake Lamotta's resume?

i rate it highly. 81/19 isn't a great stat on the surface, but 5 of the losses are to srr, 1 was a fix, 1 was a robbery and a couple were late in his career to legit lhw's.

 

Its a very impressive list of names, but on closer inspection not quite as impressive as it first seems .

 

I'd like more info on Zivic fights. Zivic always claimed he got the shaft in a couple decisions. Was Yarosz past it?

 

My reservation with the quality names on Jake's resume, is as follows.
SRR. Conceding 9lbs,10lbs,15lbs,16lbs,14lbs,5lbs.
Lamotta won 1 of the 6.

Tommy Bell.Conceding ,10lbs,11lbs,13lbs.
Tony Janiro .Conceding, 5lbs.
Jimmy Edgar.Conceding, 6lbs,8lbs,11lbs.
Bert Lytell.Conceding, 7lbs.
Goerge Costner.Conceding ,6lbs.
Jackie Wilson. Conceding,16lbs.
Fritzie Zivic.Conceding, 9lbs,6lbs,4lbs,8lbs.
They had 4 fights not 3.

Ancient Fritzie Zivic may be rematched today with Jake LaMotta, who won an unpopular split decision over Fritzie last night in their 10 round 'rubber match' at MSG. Promoter Mike Jacobs would like to toss them into the Garden ring again on Dec. 17 to satisfy the fans who witnessed last night's brawl, and who voiced their disapproval of the verdict with lusty booing. Zivic had complete command in the first half of the fight, giving LaMotta a boxing lesson in most of the first five heats. But Zivic tired in the later going and his younger, heavier opponent came on with a persistent body attack to win 4 of the last 5 sessions. There were no knockdowns but Fritzie staggered LaMotta with a straight right to the chin in the 3rd. Jake had Fritzie on wobbly pins in the 7th, after landing a hard left hook to the body and a right to the face. LaMotta suffered a gashed left brow in the 3rd round and Zivic had an old cut reopened under his left eye in the 7th." -United Press

• Unofficial UP scorecard - 6-4 Zivic
• Unofficial AP scorecard - 6-4 LaMotta
• Due to the cut under his left eye, Zivic had to cancel a bout he had scheduled for 6 days later in Akron, Ohio against Red Doty

Below is the fight with the lowest discrepancy in the weights.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Press, both felt Zivic won by a considerable margin. The latter paper stated that LaMotta received "the boxing lesson of his life". Mike Capriano, LaMotta's manager, admitted that he was "surprised at the decision". The crowd loudly booed the decision.

• The following day Zivic requested to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission that they sponsor a rematch between he and LaMotta, but over the 15 round distance.

Unofficial scorecards

• UP - 4-4-2 Draw
• AP - Although the AP did not render a card in their report, it did state it only gave LaMotta three rounds out of the contest (rounds 1, 7 & 10).

Zivic won one of the other 2 ,and lost the other fighting with a damaged hand from the 1 st round.
Not such glorious wins when youexamine them are they?


Gene Hairston .Conceding, 8lbs ,7lbs.
Jose Basora.Conceding, 5lbs ,6lbs,3lbs.

That is quite a lot of weight to give away for a welter/middleweight.


Lamotta did give 6lbs to slugger Bob Murphy and beat him , an excellent result.:good .

I wonder sometimes how big the margin is between,
Lamotta , Dauthille and Villemain both of whom split fights with him?:think

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Good info and good post.

 

True. If Sergei Kovalev fought Gannady Golovkin with a 15 lb weight advantage and only managed to win 1 of 6 I don't think too many of us would be patting him on the shoulder. Still, Lamotta's resume is pretty good.

 

Great fighter, but like all of them he had his strengths and weaknesses.

 

some excellent wins over some excellent fighters, Cerdan, SRR, Sattefield and many others. Today there are fights that on the day of the fight there are big weight differences. Jake did it both ways and he wanted to fight Joe Louis...good thing he didn't...I would have like to see him vs Graziano though action fight

 

Great resume.

Yes, he does seem to get a lot of credit for beating up several welterweights, something Graziano gets absolutely ripped for.
At least Graziano had the excuse of being a "light-middle" size middleweight himself, where LaMotta was a full-blown middle.

 

"Four times I fought Lamotta.Fought him in Pittsburgh 10rds ,Pittsburgh15rds ,10rds in NY, and 10rds inDetroit .
Every Lamotta fight was split decisions.
None of them was unamimous.
Lamotta couldn't punch at all but he was tough,keep coming.He wore you out. You couldn't miss him.You'd throw a punch backward,you'd hit him .
You'd throw a punch under your legs you'd hit him.
He was tough ,I got a 15 rd decision off him.
The first time I boxed him 10rds in his mind he figured,"Nothing
a welterweight."
he out weighed me about 10lbs at the weigh- in, probably 12,14lbs at fight time.
And I was in good tip top shape,I bet a thousand dollars on myself to twenty-five hundred.
I was in real good shape.
I seen him fight a couple of times and I knew what to expect.I knew he couldn't punch.
I'm really giving it to him for about 5 or 6 rds.
he come out in the 7th rd, he's trying his worst,I'm hitting himmore.
He's burning up.

So when the fights over the referee:Zivic.The judges :Lamotta.
They hollered blue murder the people.
Jeez I was burned up.I won the fight because he underestimated , trying too hard. He's walking in, showing off. He figured 6,7 rds he'll knock me out,and he couldn't even hit me.
I punched the sh*t out of him.
So Jake Mintz ,who was the promoter for that show at Forbes Field, he said," Lamotta wants to fight you again for 15rds".

I said ,the hell with 15rds .It's no championship figjht.
He said "He figures he's going to catch you in 15" So I said Aw,I'll fight him for 20rds.I'll tell you what I'll do .Give me 30%.
He hollered blue murder.I said Lamotta knows he lost the fight,that's the reason he want to fight me15rds, to get even.
I got 25% .
We went 15rds and I punched the sh*t out of him maybe the first 10 rds,but the second fight was a split decision too.
One judge give it to him,and the referee and judge give it to me.I thought I won it and he probably thought he won it."

Fritzie Zivic. June 1971. " In This Corner ".
Peter Heller.Recommended.:good

 

When saying he 'beat' Robert Villemain, one has to look at the whole picture. He got the decision which caused an uproar. Villemain won the rematch, but here is the description of the first fight.

"Jake LaMotta won an unpopular split 12 round decision over Robert Villemain of France after a great fight Friday night before 11,491 fans at MSG. The fans booed the decision for more than 5 minutes. They hooted LaMotta as Jake climbed down from the ring and they gave the Frenchman a great ovation. There were no knockdowns during the bout but LaMotta appeared to be staggered in at least three rounds. Villemain won the fans with his persistent short-hooking attack to the head that caused far more damage than LaMotta's wide swings. And it was the Frenchman that did most of the forcing. Both scappers were bleeding from gashes over their left brows at the final bell." -United Press
Scorecards

• Referee Harry Ebbetts - 6-4-2 LaMotta
• Judge Harold Barnes - 6-5-1 LaMotta
• Judge Charley Shortell - 7-4-1 Villemain

• Unofficial UP scorecard - 7-3-2 Villemain
• Unofficial AP scorecard - 7-4-1 Villemain
• 13 ringside reporters polled had it for Villemain 12-1

• On March 28, 1949, three days after the bout, NYSAC chairman Eddie Eagan suspended indefinitely referee Harry Ebbetts and judge Harold Barnes because of their scoring in the bout, with them not to receive assignments for an indefinite period. Eagan stated, "In view of the international importance of the bout and the fact that their cards were contrary to the viewpoint of practically all those who witnessed the contest, especially the members of the commission, it was felt that disciplinary action was required."

 

Good info!:good