The one number that does matter when recalling LaMotta's accomplishments is the "and one" that he beat onto Sugar Ray Robinson's record in their second fight, February 1943. That was LaMotta summed up: always there. Dauthuille was counted out with just 13 seconds remaining in the fight. When he thought he had one minute remaining in the fight, LaMotta surged forward and put Dauthuille on the canvas.
LaMotta spent the first two minutes of the round with his hands down by his sides, swaying into the ropes and bouncing back off them as if completely spent. When he defended his middleweight title against Laurent Dauthuille in September 1950, LaMotta was down on the scorecards by Round 15 and needed the knockout to win. He wasn't the biggest hitter, he wasn't slick on his feet or particularly creative with his set-ups or counters, but he was always there and there was seldom a minute of any fight that he wasn't working. LaMotta was known as a fighter with a great gas tank and a willingness to push hard through each round of a contest. LaMotta may not be an all-time great in terms of accolades, but his story was a remarkable one for everything about fighting that isn't in the numbers and the belts. The Jake LaMotta in that film (played by Robert De Niro) is a deeply flawed human being with a self-destructive streak but some legitimate fighting talent and a resolute stubbornness under fire. Though not before Marcel Cerdan's American representatives allegedly extorted another $20,000 out of LaMotta in "fees" for the fight-a fight for which his purse would amount to only $19,000!īut the purpose of Scorsese's Raging Bull never seemed to be to elevate Jake to something more than he was. Few would approve this moral choice, but at a time when mob-owned fighters were being worked into the best opportunities, it was what LaMotta had to do, and he got the title shot as a result.
Allegedly LaMotta had passed on taking a dive against Tony Janiro in June 1947 for $100,000, instead opting to work the fix against Fox in exchange for the mob organizing a shot at the middleweight crown down the road.
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