Jake LaMotta: Legendary Raging Bull boxer dies at 95
Image copyright Getty Images
Jake LaMotta, the uncompromising fighter portrayed by Robert De Niro in “Raging Bull”, has died aged 95.
The former world middleweight boxing champion died in a nursing home due to complications from pneumonia, his wife told US news site TMZ.
Based on LaMotta’s 1970 memoir, Raging Bull depicts an emotional fighter struggling with life outside the ring.
The 1980 film, directed by Martin Scorsese, earned De Niro a Best Actor award at the Oscars.
“I just want people to know, he was a great, sweet, sensitive, strong, compelling man with a great sense of humour, with eyes that danced,” Mrs LaMotta said.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption His rough style made him one of the most famous fighters in boxing during the 1940s and 1950s
Born 10 July, 1922 to Italian parents in the Bronx area of New York City, he took up boxing after being rejected by the US military due to a medical condition.
Sports commentators praised his willingness to take a severe beating in order to get close enough to land the best punches on his opponent.
His stamina in the ring, which he honed during a prison sentence, earned him the nickname “The Bronx Bull”.
One writer for the Associated Press described how he fought with “blows bouncing off him like ball bearings off a battleship”.
Skip Twitter post by @JohnnyWBoxing
The Raging Bull has passed! #rip Jake! He was one great fighter #boxing ??? pic.twitter.com/2UWQXID1lI
— Johnny Wilds (@JohnnyWBoxing) September 20, 2017 Report
End of Twitter post by @JohnnyWBoxing
LaMotta first won national recognition two years after landing on the professional boxing circuit, when he handed Sugar Ray Robinson his first ever defeat in 1943.
His rough style made him one of the most famous fighters in boxing during the 1940s and 1950s at a time when boxing was one of the nation’s most popular sports.
According to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, his career record was 83 wins, 19 loses, 4 draws, and 30 knockouts.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption In 1949 LaMotta defeated Robert Villemain after a 12-round bout in Madison Square Garden, New York City.
