LaMOTTA, Jake

(b. 10 July 1921 in New York City), middleweight boxing champion from 1949 to 1951, portrayed by Robert DeNiro in the 1980 film Raging Bull, who is best known for his six bouts with Sugar Ray Robinson.

The eldest of five children of the Italian immigrant Giuseppe LaMotta, an impoverished peddler, and his Italian-American wife, Elizabeth, Giacobe LaMotta was born on New York's Lower East Side but spent most of his troubled childhood on the mean streets of the Bronx, New York. As a young boy, LaMotta once came home crying after having been beaten up by some bullies. His father, a violent man who often abused his wife and children, slapped LaMotta across the face and thrust an ice pick into his hand, admonishing him to learn to defend himself with the advice, "Hit 'em first, and hit 'em hard." It was, LaMotta later said, the only good thing he ever got from his father. Soon an accomplished street fighter, LaMotta quit high school and drifted into delinquency. At the age of fifteen, he was convicted of attempted burglary and sentenced to three years at the state reform school at Coxsackie, New York, where he began boxing.

Upon his release he trained at the Teasdale Athletic Club in the Bronx and launched a successful amateur career, winning the light-heavyweight championship in the 1940 New York State Diamond Belt competition. LaMotta made his professional debut at age nineteen in 1941, winning seventeen and losing three. In 1942 LaMotta won eleven of fourteen bouts, one loss being to the incomparable Sugar Ray Robinson, who would become LaMotta's arch rival. "I fought Sugar Ray so many times," LaMotta later quipped, "it's a wonder I don't have diabetes." On 5 February 1943, in Detroit, a more confident LaMotta fought in typical bullying style, sending Robinson sprawling through the ropes in the eighth round. He won a unanimous decision and handed Robinson his first defeat in forty-one professional fights. In a third dustup, LaMotta again dropped Robinson but lost a close decision.

Nicknamed the "Bronx Bull" for his headlong charges, the stocky LaMotta fought out of a low crouch, constantly bending and weaving as he bulled his way forward while unleashing barrages of punches. In 1943–1944 he fought the former welterweight champion Fritzie Zivic in four sensational battles, of which he won three. In 1945 he resumed his rivalry with Robinson, losing two hotly contested decisions. LaMotta, however, remained a brooding loner plagued by personal and professional problems. Distrustful of everyone, he fired his manager, Mike Cipriano, and assumed control of his career. He also divorced his first wife, Ida, with whom he had one child, and on 9 November 1946 married Vikki, whom he often beat during fits of jealous rage. Although he was rated the top middleweight contender by 1947, LaMotta was denied a shot at the championship because he refused to cooperate with the mobsters who controlled boxing. Out of desperation, he agreed to throw a fight in exchange for a title bout. On 14 November 1947 he took a dive against Billy Fox in New York City. Barely defending himself and refusing to go down despite a dreadful beating, LaMotta suffered a technical knockout in the fourth round as the crowd jeered. He was fined $1,000 by the New York State Boxing Commission and suspended for seven months. As a result of this incident, LaMotta was to become one of boxing's most unpopular champions. The sportswriter Jimmy Cannon reflected popular opinion in calling him "the most detested man in sports."

LaMotta received his title shot against the Frenchman Marcel Cerdan on 16 June 1949 in Detroit's Briggs Stadium. In the first round Cerdan fell into a clinch, and as the fighters tussled, he was thrown to the canvas, injuring his right shoulder. LaMotta won the middleweight championship when Cerdan was unable to answer the bell for the tenth round. A rematch was precluded by Cerdan's death in a plane crash. Instead, in 1950 LaMotta successfully defended his title on 12 July against the Italian Tiberio Mitri and on 13 September against another tough Frenchman, Laurent Dauthuille, who had decisioned LaMotta the previous year. In the rematch, LaMotta absorbed a brutal beating and was behind on points, playing possum along the ropes, when he unleashed a crippling left hook that knocked out Dauthuille with only thirteen seconds remaining in the fight. LaMotta's final defense was against his old nemesis, Sugar Ray Robinson, in Chicago Stadium on 14 February 1951, a bout known as the "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre."

The fight followed the pattern of their earlier encounters, with LaMotta forcing the fight, tramping forward and flailing from a low crouch while Robinson, eluding the most punishing blows, landed explosive jabs and counter-punches. The fight was even after ten rounds, but in the eleventh a tiring LaMotta took his last best shot. Springing off the ropes, he cornered Robinson and unleashed a blistering two-fisted attack. Robinson outlasted the barrage and took control of the fight, punishing a defenseless LaMotta with savage combinations. Bloodied and battered in the thirteenth, the defiant LaMotta wrapped his arms around the top ropes to ensure he would not go down and endured a terrible beating before the referee mercifully stopped the slaughter. LaMotta continued fighting but rapidly declined. As a newspaper headline exclaimed, "LaMotta NoGotta!" In 1952 Danny Nardico became the first man to topple LaMotta to the canvas; two years later LaMotta hung up his gloves after losing to unheralded Billy Kilgore.

LaMotta moved with his wife and their three children to Miami Beach, Florida, where he opened a saloon, "Jake LaMotta's." There his life spun out of control as he succumbed to boozing and philandering, prompting Vikki to file for divorce in 1956. In March 1957 LaMotta was convicted of aiding and abetting prostitution when a fifteen-year-old girl was found soliciting in his bar. He was fined $500 and sentenced to six months in the Dade County Stockade. Following his release he married the model Sally Carlton, with whom he had two children before the marriage ended in divorce, as would LaMotta's three subsequent marriages. Returning to New York City in 1958, LaMotta worked haphazardly as an actor and launched a marginally successful career as a stand-up comic, lampooning the boxing racket and his marital woes. Soon broke and drinking heavily again, LaMotta worked as a trash collector in Central Park and a bouncer at Robbie's Mardi Gras, a topless go-go bar on Broadway. LaMotta's autobiography, Raging Bull, was published in 1970 and later turned into the critically acclaimed film of the same name starring Robert DeNiro as the loutish anti-hero. The film's success re-kindled LaMotta's celebrity. He remains in demand as an after-dinner speaker, continues to perform his stand-up routine, and frequently attends sports and boxing memorabilia shows, signing autographs for a fee.

LaMotta was one of the most controversial champions in boxing history. Roundly despised for throwing the Fox fight, he was nevertheless a colorful fighter who drew large crowds because his nonstop swarming style made for action-packed bouts. Had not the popularity of the film Raging Bull rescued him from obscurity, he might be best remembered for that infamous fight and for his rivalry with Sugar Ray Robinson, arguably the best boxer in history. Instead, the film creates a disturbing yet compelling portrait of LaMotta as a deeply troubled loner who sought relief from his own feelings of worthlessness through punishment absorbed in the ring. As LaMotta told the writer Peter Heller, "I fought like I didn't deserve to live." LaMotta's official record stands at 106 bouts, 83 wins, 19 losses, and 4 draws with 30 knockouts. He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1986 and into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.

LaMotta's autobiography Raging Bull: My Story (1970), written with Joseph Carter and Peter Savage, covers his life up to his release from jail and contains vivid descriptions of his major bouts, including his final fight with Sugar Ray Robinson. Raging Bull II (1986), by Chris Anderson and Sharon McGehee with LaMotta, continues LaMotta's story through the mid-1980s. Peter Heller, "In This Corner … !": Forty-two World Champions Tell Their Stories (1994), contains an informative profile. See also the film Raging Bull (1980), directed by Martin Scorsese.

Michael McLean