Jake LaMotta dead: Legendary boxer and Raging Bull inspiration dies aged 95

LaMotta held the world middleweight championship from 1949 to 1951 and inspired the Martin Scorsese biography classic Raging Bull, starring Robert DeNiro

Former world middleweight champion boxer Jake LaMotta has died due to complications from pneumonia, aged 95.

Real name Giacobbe LaMotta, the American’s death was announced by a relatives on social media, with his eldest daughter Christi LaMotta paying tribute on Facebook. Her post, accompanied with a picture of him and the world middleweight championship, read: “Jake LaMotta July 10, 1922 - September 19, 2017. Rest in Peace Pop.”

His wife, Denise Baker, confirmed to TMZ that LaMotta died in a nursing home due to complications from pneumonia. She added: "I just want people to know, he was a great, sweet, sensitive, strong, compelling man with a great sense of humour, with eyes that danced."

LaMotta’s niece, Diane Ramaglia Bonita, also paid tribute to the boxing great, along with posting a picture of her own son and highlighting the remarkable resemblance between the two.

She wrote: “A legend has just left for heaven. My Uncle and Middleweight Champ, Jake LaMotta, whose life story was portrayed by Oscar Winner, Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull, the longest living prize fighter, died today at the age of 95. Out of pain and resting in peace in the loving embrace of our Lord, and forever in my heart, always remembered with loving pride. Rest now Uncle Jake.

“A family resemblance to our Legend, our Champ, Uncle Jake LaMotta. My Michael Bonita’s looks are so incredibly aligned with his great uncle. Uncle Jake fought the good fight right to the end.”

LaMotta won the world middleweight championship in June 1949 when he defeated Frenchman Marcel Cerdan with a 10th round stoppage, and held the title for more than two years before losing to long-time rival Sugar Ray Robinson.

In total, LaMotta fought Robinson six times in what became one of the sport’s most legendary rivalries, with Robinson winning all but their second encounter which ended in LaMotta’s favour.

LaMotta would fight 106 times over a 13-year career that was littered with links to the mob, claiming 83 victories and four draws along the way, with 19 defeats. He became globally known for his chin, with no other boxer at the time able to take heavy punches and remain on his feet like he could, and he was the victim in the “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre”, the sixth and final bout with Robinson, in which he absorbed so much punishment that the referee stopped the fight in the 13th round with LaMotta laying on the ropes – yet still refusing to be knocked down.

He remains one of the most iconic boxing figures and inspired the 1980 film Raging Bull, which featured actor Robert DeNiro. The critically acclaimed Martin Scorsese biographical depicted LaMotta on his rise towards his world title challenge, and subsequent fall as his career became gripped in his self-destructive rage and jealousy that destroyed his relationship with his family.

LaMotta married seven times, the most recent of which came to Baker in January 2013, and he has four daughter along with two sons. However, his eldest son, Jake LaMotta Jr, died of liver cancer in February 1998, and his youngest son, Joseph LaMotta, died in September that year in the crash of Swissair Flight 111.