MovieChat Forums > Raging Bull (1980) Discussion > Jake La Motta wanting to fight with Joe ...

Jake La Motta wanting to fight with Joe Louis, why not?

posted 11 years ago by Tidewatcher
2 replies | jump to latest

In the movie Jake rants to his brother Joey about how he wants to fight with Joe Louis and heres how it goes:

Joey:Hey, c'mon, what's the matter?
JAKE:(privately, to Joey)I ain't ever gonna fight Joe Louis, that's what's the matter.
JOEY: What're you talking about? He's a heavyweight. You're a middleweight.

But why wouldnt a Middleweight be allowed to challenge a Heavyweight to a Boxing match? What if the guy has a great record and is highly skilled? Wouldnt a skilled Middleweight be able to push a Heavyweight to the limit and maybe win? Ignoring the rules, maybe La Motta could approach Louis and challenge him to a match in person or just pick a fight with him out on the street if he is not allowed to box him, then you've got your fight.

[–] everydayboredom1980 10 years ago

Joe Louis wasn't just any heavyweight, he was a long reigning HW champ. Throughout history, HW champs have defended against MWs on occasion (Jack Johnson-Stanley Ketchel), but it's rare.

One of the best MWs (and WWs) of Lamotta's era, Charley Burley, fought a HW and dominated, but against a much lesser opponent than Louis.

One of Joe Louis's toughest title defenses was against a light-heavyweight in Billy Conn, but

[–] Matthew7819 10 years ago

In the Raging Bull movie, Lamotta is referring to the fact that he feels his career will not be properly validated because he couldn't move up and fight Joe Louis. He was acknowledging that a fight with "The Brown Bomber" would've made him into a true legendary superstar that stands alone in his greatness, but that the fight was completely infeasible.

Joe louis would knock him out and i doubt it would be difficult for him and it would be murder because La Motta couldnt even punch that hard for a middle weight, He had a pretty good dig but not much one punch KO power. His punchers lacked snap so he only scored a mere 30 ko's in 106 fights.

I'm a big La Motta fan but Joe Louis would have ****ed his shut up. Jake was a natural middlweight. If he wanted to fight as a heavyweight he wouldn't be in good enough shape anyway. As a boxer both were great but we aren't talking about a P4P fight here. Jake always wished but it wasn't possible with his bodytype and size. If he did fight him Jake would have been embarrassed.