LaMotta, who had struggled (once again) to make weight, faded in the second half of the fight and Robinson poured it on. Valentine’s Day Massacre,” the Februfight is looked at today as one of the most gruelling, violent and punishing battles in ring history. All five previous fights had been incredibly hard, competitive fights, with Sugar Ray winning fights one, three and four, and Jake winning fight-two. Then LaMotta met arch-rival Sugar Ray for the sixth and final time. There had been just :13 seconds of the fight left at the time of the stoppage.

Trailing on all three scorecards, LaMotta suddenly and sensationally sprang into action and blasted Dauthuille into the ropes and knocked him down, getting the ultimate last-gasp KO win. Lamotta pounded out a 15 round decision over Tiberio Mitri and then, in his rematch with Dauthuille, LaMotta scored one of the most legendary KO wins in boxing history. LaMotta – after losing his next fight after winning the title, this a non-title match with Robert Villemain – went on to retain the crown twice. Read: De La Hoya says Errol Spence should have took tune-up before Crawford fight A rematch was set, only for Cerdan to sadly perish in a plane crash as he was en-route to the US for the return fight. Finally, in November of 1947, LaMotta took on and defeated the classy Marcel Cerdan for the world middleweight crown, Jake getting a corner retirement win as the Frenchman was forced to quit with a badly injured arm. But back then, a fighter HAD to do business with the Mob if they wanted a title shot, hence the arranged loss to Fox.īut after reluctantly doing the Mafia’s bidding, Jake would have to wait a year-and-a-half before he got his shot, with LaMotta fighting a further nine fights as he waited, one of these he lost, legitimately to Laurent Dauthuille (who would fight Jake again, in a famous world title fight).

And, in the second of the five epic battles with Robinson, LaMotta had taken Sugar’s unbeaten record. Jake had been through so much by this juncture in his ring career: he had fought five fights/wars with the incomparable Sugar Ray Robinson, LaMotta had beaten fine fighters such as Fritzie Zivic, George “Sugar” Costner, Bert Lytell, Tommy Bell, Holman Williams, and Bob Satterfield. Read: Tim Tszyu vs Carlos Ocampo: Start Time, Date, How To Watch

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