Jake LaMotta

Giacobbe LaMotta was born in the Lower East Side of Manhattan before moving to the Italian neighborhood of Pelham Parkway in the Bronx. Forced by his father into street brawls to earn pocket money, LaMotta learned boxing while incarcerated in Coxsackie Reformatory for attempted burglary. Turning professional in 1941, LaMotta was dubbed 'The Bronx Bull' for his punishing, bulldog-like relentless pressure, body punching, and uncanny ability to absorb catastrophic punishment without falling.

In February 1943, LaMotta handed Sugar Ray Robinson the first defeat of his professional career in Detroit, knocking Robinson out of the ring in the eighth round. Over their immortal six-fight series, LaMotta pushed Robinson to the absolute limits of human endurance.

In June 1949 in Detroit, LaMotta achieved his ultimate dream by stopping French national hero Marcel Cerdan in the tenth round to capture the world middleweight championship. On 14 February 1951 in Chicago, in the brutal 'St. Valentine's Day Massacre' rematch with Robinson, LaMotta absorbed a horrific beating for thirteen rounds before the referee stopped the fight, with LaMotta famously gripping the ropes and shouting to Robinson: 'You didn't get me down, Ray! You never got me down!' His autobiography inspired Martin Scorsese's 1980 film Raging Bull, starring Robert De Niro.