By Paul Strauss: In a two part ESPN feature about Rocky Graziano, Teddy Atlas offers his opinion that Rocky Graziano avoided Jake “The Raging Bull” LaMotta. Teddy explains that in his opinion, Rocky knew Jake would “take him apart”. Really? Teddy’s claim is doubtful. In fact, the truth is Rocky probably wasn’t afraid of much of anything or anyone. You be the judge, but it would appear the facts line up against Teddy.
First, consider the fact that Rocky wasn’t afraid to fight Sugar Ray Robinson, who everyone knows is considered to be the greatest fighter of all time! So, logically, if Rocky was actually afraid of anyone, it should have been Sugar Ray. Speaking of Sugar Ray, here’s another fact. Jake’s claim to fame: He was the first man to beat the great Sugar Ray.Robinson. He actually outpointed in a second fight as well. But, then went to lose four times, one by SD and the final one by TKO in the 13th round. Obviously, Jake wasn’t afraid of anyone either. Jake later joked that he fought Sugar Ray so many times (6) that he became diabetic. That’s a sample of Jake’s stand up routine. Secondly, Jake was not a big puncher. His kayo percentage was somewhere around 28%, not exactly a murderous puncher. On the other hand, Rocky’s kayo percentage was close to 63%.
The third fact, to go along with number two, and to Jake’s credit, was that when fighting the Bronx Bull, you risked damaging your fists on his hard head. Jake beat guys with his toughness, relentless pressure, body attack and good left hook, which he could throw in rapid fire sequence. He wasn’t invincible, though, even though he bragged, “Sugar couldn’t knock him down”. Tough? No argument there.
However, here’s another couple of facts for you. LaMotta got outpointed by Lloyd Marshall. Yeh, I know. I never heard of Lloyd either. Another never heard of type who beat him was Cecil (yes, Cecil) Hudson. Rocky kayo’d Hudson in three. Don’t forget Billy “Blackjack” Fox stopped Jake, but of course that’s another story, because LaMotta would later claim he threw the fight in order to gain a title shot. Fox was allegedly controlled by Philadelphia mobster Frank “Blinky” Palermo.
Further, an argument could be made that Rocky fought the better competition. And, he knocked out most of them.. Another cink in LaMotta’s armor was his victory over Marcel Cerdan. The Frenchman won two of the first three rounds despite having sustained a serious injury to his left shoulder (dislocated) in the first round. We all know how painful that can be……just ask Bernard Hopkins! Marcel fought one armed for ten rounds before being forced to quit. A rematch was scheduled, but tragically Marcel Cerdan was killed in a plane crash in the Azores. It’s fair to say Marcel Cerdan had a good chance of regaining his title.had he lived. .
Taking all of these things into consideration is not to say that Jake would not have beaten Rocky. He had a better defense and a better chin. But, that’s not the point, and there’s no need to try and tear down Jake’s legacy as a great fighter. However, Teddy’s comment about Rocky being afraid of or purposely avoiding LaMotta doesn’t seem all believable. Undoubtedly, as mentioned in the video, Teddy try to support his opinion with a claim that Rocky ducked a chance to fight Jake by faking an injury. It is true a scheduled fight between to the two got cancelled. because Rocky injured a thumb. Rocky had previously injured the same thumb, so there was some difficulty in determining whether the claimed injury was new or an old injury? Regardless, the fight was cancelled. But, that seems to be pretty slim evidence for Teddy leveling an opinion that Rocky was afraid to fight LaMotta? One thing is obvious. Teddy is a fan of Jake LaMotta and it’s pretty obvious Teddy wanted to make the most out of it this incident in the ESPN video. .
The fact is no one can argue that Rocky was a very popular fighter and showbiz character. In the ring, he had that crowd pleasing hell bent for leather style. He wanted to knock his opponent’s head off, and more than a few times he came close to doing it. He was also a colorful character outside the ring. In his youth, he was a criminal, but he had redeeming qualities and a special charm about him. His early years were as tough or tougher than anything Jake faced. People recognized that about Rocky, and so did Hollywood. They made a movie about him called “Somebody Up There Likes Me”, starring Paul Newman.
Certainly Jake was colorful too, but unfortunately the movie about his life called “Raging Bull” didn’t portray much in the way of charm or redeeming qualities. Rather, Jake was portrayed as a sadistic, foul mouthed, rude, crude and cruel person. But, his many fans loved him, and filled arenas all around the country to see him fight..
According to the critics, both moves were great in their own way, but the one about Rocky, is one you want to see again. It’s hard to say that about the second one. Rocky probably would have skipped “Raging Bull” and instead gone to the neighborhood candy store. No one can say for sure who would have won had these two champions ever fought. But, it would have been one to rival or surpass the hoped for match up between Manny Pacquaio and Floyd Mayweather,Jr. It would have been a great fight. Maybe Jake would have taken Rocky a part, as Teddy suggests, or maybe Rocky would have been the second guy to drop Jake?. Who knows? But, it’s very doubtful Rocky was afraid to fight Jake. Yes, Somebody up there liked Rocky, and somebody knew his fears, but it’s a good bet Jake LaMotta wasn’t one of them.