Presents:
Sugar Ray Robinson versus Jake LaMotta IV
February 23, 1945
The never filmed fight between Jake LaMotta, boxing’s famous “Raging Bull,” and Sugar Ray Robinson, boxing’s all-time greatest pound-for-pound fighter.
Sugar Ray and Jake were completely different kinds of fighters. Sugar Ray, a welter at this time, was a sharpshooter, a boxer-puncher who could hit from every angle. LaMotta, a full-fledged middleweight, was a brawler who crouched low and tried to bull his way inside.
Contrasting styles make for the great rivalries in boxing. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier were one great example; Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta were another. Sugar Ray, the “Harlem Dancing Master,” and LaMotta, the so aptly called “Bronx Bull” fought each other a total of six times. Robinson won five, but LaMotta says that he was robbed of the decision on a couple of occasions, and that the final score should have been three wins each.
Only the last of those six Robinson-LaMotta fights was ever filmed. Now, for the first time, you will “see” the fourth Robinson-LaMotta fight through the great Don Dunphy’s unforgettable blow-by-blow radio commentary direct from ringside at Madison Square Garden in New York.
LaMotta and Robinson were both twenty-one years old when they met for the first time at Madison Square Garden on October 2, 1942. Sugar Ray won a ten-round unanimous decision, but LaMotta came back to outpoint Robinson at Detroit’s Olympia Arena four months later, knocking Ray through the ropes with a right to the body and a left to the head near the end of round eight. Robinson was still outside the ring, his legs across the bottom rope when the bell sounded, ending the round as referee Sam Hennessey’s count reached “nine.” It was Robinson’s first loss after forty straight wins as a pro. Robinson and LaMotta fought again at the same place just three weeks later. Again LaMotta knocked down Robinson, this time for an eight-count with a left to the head in round seven. The decision, however, went to Sugar Ray, bringing us to their fourth fight, another ten rounder held at Madison Square Garden on February 23, 1945.
Neither Sugar Ray Robinson nor Jake LaMotta had won world championship titles at this stage of their careers.
Robinson, who turned pro in 1940, would win the world welterweight title by out pointing Tommy Bell in December, 1946 and go on to win the world middleweight title a remarkable five times.
LaMotta would win the middleweight crown by stopping Marcel Cerdan in 1949. He would lose it two years later to -- you guessed it -- Robinson.
Sugar Ray , the uncrowned welterweight champion of the world, was outweighed by nine and one-half pounds on this occasion, yet he was the favorite, 4-1.
This was Robinson’s ninth fight since his discharge from the army, and his first bout in the Garden since his unanimous decision over Henry Armstrong on August 27, 1943.
The referee for this bout, Eddie Joseph, was no stranger to great fights. In 1941, Eddie Joseph had worked the legendary Louis-Conn world heavyweight title bout in which champion Joe Louis, behind on all three scorecards after twelve rounds, knocked out challenger Billy Conn in round thirteen.
When Madison Square Garden honored Sugar Ray Robinson with a special night on his retirement from boxing on December 10, 1965, Randy Turpin, Bobo Olson, Gene Fullmenr, and Carmen Basilio were flown in for the occasion -- Turpin all the way from England.
Jake, the man Ray had beaten to win the middleweight crown for the first time, the first fighter to defeat Ray in the pros, and the man universally regarded as his greatest foe, was not even invited. But fourteen years later, Jake LaMotta would achieve a new celebrity status with the release of Martin Scorsese’s magnificent film version of his autobiography, “The Raging Bull.”
Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta would fight twice more, Robinson winning a 12-round split decision in Chicago’s Comiskey Park on September 26, 1945 and stopping LaMotta at 2:04 of round 13 to win the world middleweight title at Chicago Stadium on February 14, 1951. Even then, battered from all angles, Jake would not go down. What kept him up? Toughness and pride.
About PRIME TIME BOXING
Programming that cannot be duplicated or found anywhere else, PRIME TIME BOXING features the legendary Don Dunphy, the all-time most dynamic and knowledgeable boxing commentator describing the most exciting and memorable fights of Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson and all the other great champions.
Through the incredible magic of the original radio broadcasts listeners will be able to "see" the fights for the first time - in the theater of their mind! A magical replay of exciting sports history presented on audio CD, PRIME TIME BOXING includes the greatest fights ever, including many that have never been filmed or broadcast on TV.
