Jake LaMotta

Today marks the anniversary of one of the most famous and also most brutal and punishing world title fights of them all: “The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre,” between long-time rivals Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta.

80 years ago today in New York, one of the most celebrated and unforgettable boxing rivalries began. Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta met up in a non-title ten round fight, and though neither great knew it at the time, each man had found his most testing rival; the fighter and fights both legends would be largely defined by.

Chicago Stadium, February 14, 1951: Sugar Ray Robinson-Jake LaMotta VI, for the middleweight championship of the world.

It was 70 years ago today when fierce rivals Sugar Ray Robinson and Jake LaMotta met in their sixth and final fight, excuse me, war.

Imagine it: two of the absolute best fighters in the world fighting each other, in a rematch, with not so much as a sniff of a world title on the line in either fight.

Six brutal fights, fought over nine years, between two of the greatest fighters ever. Today in 1942, two legendary fighters – real legends, not merely good fighters who were showered with this overused word – met for the first time.