Jake Lamotta In Todays Middleweight Era: How Easy Does He Reign?

[Doctor_Tenma]

the mw division sucks. only great fighter is martinez. pirog is pretty good but he will lose if he faces sergio

Actually it doesn't, people need to look deeper into the MW division.

[AKATheMack]

Bernard Hopkins would call him out an expose him as a no skill having whiteboy.

[TheGreatA]

Some statements that have been made in this thread that I feel should be disproven:

"you have to take into account that Cerdan was terminally ill when LaMotta won their fight"

Terminally ill? Cerdan was perfectly healthy going into that fight, but suffered an injured shoulder in the first round after a rough beating that LaMotta gave to him. He died after the fight in a plane crash.

"Jake Lamotta had a very ordinary career, except for his win over SRR"

LaMotta beat numerous top contenders and had a very impressive record of wins.

Ray Robinson
Marcel Cerdan
Holman Williams
Bert Lytell
Fritzie Zivic
Tommy Yarosz
Bob Satterfield
Jose Basora
Tony Janiro
Robert Villemain
Laurent Dauthuille
Tiberio Mitri
Bob Murphy
Joey DeJohn
George Costner
Jackie Wilson
Tommy Bell
Norman Hayes
Gene Hairston

are just some of the top names that he beat.

"He basically depended on 15 round fights and his chin."

The great majority of LaMotta's fights were scheduled for 10 rounds. He would swarm his opponents from the moment the bell rung, and outworked them for points wins. He did not rely on knockouts as he wasn't a noted puncher, although he did punch harder than his record would indicate.

"And not only that but he could come into the ring 2 or 3 weight divisions above what he should have come in at and just used his strength to win fights."

That's what fighters do today. In LaMotta's day the weigh-ins were held at the day of the fight and the most weight you could put on was maybe 5 pounds. In LaMotta's case, he did sometimes demand to weigh in early, so he could come in at 168-170. Jake took on numerous light heavyweights, so it's not like he just picked on smaller opponents.

He had an effective double jab, a great left hook to the body and underrated technical ability, especially while fighting in close. This along with an iron chin, great physical strength, stamina and determination to win made him a very difficult opponent to beat.

[Canelo Phresh]

Some statements that have been made in this thread that I feel should be disproven:

"you have to take into account that Cerdan was terminally ill when LaMotta won their fight"

Terminally ill? Cerdan was perfectly healthy going into that fight, but suffered an injured shoulder in the first round after a rough beating that LaMotta gave to him. He died after the fight in a plane crash.

"Jake Lamotta had a very ordinary career, except for his win over SRR"

LaMotta beat numerous top contenders and had a very impressive record of wins.

Ray Robinson
Marcel Cerdan
Holman Williams
Bert Lytell
Fritzie Zivic
Tommy Yarosz
Bob Satterfield
Jose Basora
Tony Janiro
Robert Villemain
Laurent Dauthuille
Tiberio Mitri
Bob Murphy
Joey DeJohn
George Costner
Jackie Wilson
Tommy Bell
Norman Hayes
Gene Hairston

are just some of the top names that he beat.

"He basically depended on 15 round fights and his chin."

The great majority of LaMotta's fights were scheduled for 10 rounds. He would swarm his opponents from the moment the bell rung, and outworked them for points wins. He did not rely on knockouts as he wasn't a noted puncher, although he did punch harder than his record would indicate.

"And not only that but he could come into the ring 2 or 3 weight divisions above what he should have come in at and just used his strength to win fights."

That's what fighters do today. In LaMotta's day the weigh-ins were held at the day of the fight and the most weight you could put on was maybe 5 pounds. In LaMotta's case, he did sometimes demand to weigh in early, so he could come in at 168-170. Jake took on numerous light heavyweights, so it's not like he just picked on smaller opponents.

He had an effective double jab, a great left hook to the body and underrated technical ability, especially while fighting in close. This along with an iron chin, great physical strength, stamina and determination to win made him a very difficult opponent to beat.

preach it brother

[Steak]

Actually it doesn't, people need to look deeper into the MW division.

No, hes right, it sucks at the moment...If youre only looking at the top ten.

but in a few years(not even) when all the prospects at 160 start rising to the top, itll be a stacked division.

at the present time its quite weak though.

[Steak]

Jake LaMotta is one of the most overrated boxers of all time.

His fame is based largely on Sugar Ray Robinson having an off night, kind of like Hasim Rahman's fame being based on Lennox Lewis not being fully focused for one fight.

Sergio, Pirog and Williams are better than LaMotta, who was similar to Pawel Wolak.

while I agree that LaMotta is slightly overrated by some people, the fact that you compared him to Pawel Wolak is alarming.

Listen to TheGreatA...LaMotta is very misunderstood as a fighter.

I doubt if Lamotta would fight at 160 today. He would fight at 168. He struggled making weight at 160. He was a big middlweight. With that said, I wouldn't pick anybody at 160 today to beat him.

I disagree completely. LaMotta would weigh in at 160 back in the day when there was same day weigh-ins...a very big disadvantage for those who cut lots of weight. Nowadays he would be able to rehydrate over a 24+ hour period, and actually be much fresher for the fight.

[TheGreatA]

No, hes right, it sucks at the moment...If youre only looking at the top ten.

but in a few years(not even) when all the prospects at 160 start rising to the top, itll be a stacked division.

at the present time its quite weak though.

The middleweight division has been terrible for a while now, even during Hopkins's reign. The early 90's is the last time I remember the division being strong. Recently it hit an all-time low, but there are a lot of promising prospects that I fear will step up into the super middleweight division.

[Low_ki]

I think he would do fairly well but I think his height might give him some problems tho.

[Doctor_Tenma]

No, hes right, it sucks at the moment...If youre only looking at the top ten.

but in a few years(not even) when all the prospects at 160 start rising to the top, itll be a stacked division.

at the present time its quite weak though.

Well, no one has really established themselves in the division, but there is alot of talent at 160.

[Calilloyd]

while I agree that LaMotta is slightly overrated by some people, the fact that you compared him to Pawel Wolak is alarming.
Listen to TheGreatA...LaMotta is very misunderstood as a fighter.
I disagree completely. LaMotta would weigh in at 160 back in the day when there was same day weigh-ins...a very big disadvantage for those who cut lots of weight. Nowadays he would be able to rehydrate over a 24+ hour period, and actually be much fresher for the fight.

LOL That's Tunney for you.