Boxer Jake LaMotta, who was memorialized by Robert De Niro in the Oscar-winning movie "Raging Bull," has passed away from pneumonia. LaMotta was best known for his rivalry with Sugar Ray Robinson in 1940s and 50s.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
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Jake LaMotta's family announced on Wednesday that the legendary boxer had passed away at a Miami-area hospital, after suffering from complications of pneumonia. He was 95.
LaMotta was one of the most iconic figures from the 1950s golden age of boxing, when it was one of the most popular sports in the US. The two-time middleweight champion was best remembered for his bitter six-fight rivalry with Sugar Ray Robinson.
Decades after retiring, LaMotta's legacy went on to gain fame with a new generation when Robert De Niro won an Academy Award for his portrayal of the troubled boxer in the 1980 film "Raging Bull," directed by Martin Scorsese.
Jake LaMotta squares up against Robert Villemain at Madison Square Garden, New York, in 1949.Image: Getty Images/Keystone
LaMotta's longtime fiancée Denise Baker told US website TMZ.com that the late boxer was a "great, sweet, sensitive, strong, compelling man with a great sense of humor, with eyes that danced."
De Niro also led the tributes on Wednesday, saying in a statement: "Rest in peace, champ."
LaMotta racked up a record of 83 victories (30 of which knockouts), 19 defeats and four ties, in career spanning from 1941 to 1954. He captured the middleweight title in 1949 with a knockout win against French boxer Marcel Cerdan.
He twice successfully defended the title, before losing the belt to Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951 in a bout that ended in a 13th-round technical knockout, with a bloodied LaMotta's defenseless and held up only by the ropes.
LaMotta (right) alongside fellow boxing great Carmen Basilio in 1999.Image: Imago/UPI Photo
Post-boxing career and prison
After hanging up his gloves, LaMotta entered the hospitality industry, managing bars and restaurants. However, he was arrested and charged in 1958 for introducing men to an underage girl who had entered his Miami nightclub. He was convicted of pimping and sentenced to six months on a chain gang at a Florida prison.
LaMotta would later also find new fame on the stand-up comedy circuit, recounting his life and career in punchy one-liners.
A funeral service is planned in Miami, where he lived, and New York City, where he was born, Baker said.
LaMotta is survived by his fiancée Baker and four daughters He lost his two sons back in 1998.
The greatest sporting battles of all time
Chess' exciting battle between Magnus Carlsen and Sergej Karjakin is just the latest in a long list of great sporting duels. From unforgettable boxing fights to never-ending tennis matches, here is DW's top 10.
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Battle of the board
Magnus Carlsen (right) is a genius. The Norwegian is one of the best chess players of all time, but Russian Sergey Karjakin nearly defeated him at the 2016 World Championship. "It was the hardest World Championship for me so far," said Carlsen. The victory came first in the tie-breaker, where the champion held his nerve to claim a 3-1 win in a match that gave chess unprecedented coverage.
Image: Reuters/M. Kauzlarich
The longest minute
90,000 watched on in the Camp Nou in Barcelona and a billion joined them on TV to watch one of football's greatest ever games in the 1999 Champions League final. Bayern Munich led 1-0 against Manchester United heading into injury time. Then came a corner, Teddy Sheringham made it 1-1. Another corner, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (pictured center) made it 2-1 - and broke Bavarian hearts.
Image: Imago
The greatest Wimbledon comeback
This match swept everyone off their feet. The 2008 Wimbledon final is one of the greatest sporting battles ever, let alone one of the greatest tennis matches. Rafael Nadal (photo) was two sets down against grass specialist Roger Federer. The Spaniard then battled back and after seemingly endless rallies, Nadal overcame the Swiss 6:4, 6:4, 6:7, 6:7, 9:7 in just under five hours of tennis.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
The drive to win
Whoever wants success has to want it more than the next competitor. The battle between Michael Schumacher (right) and Damon Hill in Formula One was the perfect example of just that. In the final Grand Prix in Adelaide in 1994, the German closed the door. Both collided and were out of the race. Hill scolded and the headlines read "Cheating Schumi", but Schumacher was champion by one point.
Image: picture-alliance/ASA
A dive in vain
The 400 meter final is a battle between eight, but at the 1960 Olympics in Rome it came down to just two. West Germany's Carl Kaufmann (on the floor above) launched an incredible comeback against US sprinter Otis Davis. With Davis comfortably ahead, Kaufmann battled back in the rain before diving over the line. In the end, it was in vain. The photo finish showed Davis a fraction ahead.
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The "Thrilla in Manilla"
Two sporting heroes on a level playing field who couldn't stand one another made for one of the greatest sporting battles. Muhammad Ali (left) fought Joe Frazier in 1975 in Manilla for the third time. Their head-to-head record was 1-1 and the third fight was just as exciting. A thrilling, brutal fight demanded everything of both fighters and in the end, Ali claimed victory.
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The miracle on ice
In 1980, the Cold War was perhaps at its frostiest. In the midst of political tension and military threat, the US and Soviet Union faced off on the ice of Lake Placid at the Winter Olympics. The Soviet team had won six of the previous seven gold medals, but astoundingly the college amateurs from the US upset the odds and won 4-3, making history in the process.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Wieseler
The mental game of tennis
Great tennis matches don't just happen in finals. The Davis Cup relegation match between Boris Becker (right) and John McEnroe was part of tennis history. On a fateful afternoon in July 1987, McEnroe argued and discussed, while Becker answered with coolness and arrogance. It was a game for the stronger mind. Becker won after a breathtaking six hours and 39 minutes, 4:6, 15:13, 8:10, 6:2, 6:2.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Probst
Friend or foe?
Like this season's battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, the 1989 Formula One Championship was a fight between teammates. In the penultimate Grand Prix in Suzuka, McLaren's Alain Prost (right) and Ayrton Senna's fight was on a knife-edge. The two collided, Prost was out of the race and Senna won, but was later disqualified. While the Brazilian raged, Prost later celebrated the title.
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Neck and neck on the Champs-Élysées
The Tour de France has never been closer than it was in 1989. Frenchman Laurent Fignon (right), who has sadly since passed, was wearing the yellow jersey on the road to Paris but US rider Greg LeMond stole the yellow off him on the final time trial. After 3,285 kilometers it came down to eight seconds.
