Los Angeles: Jake LaMotta, the middle-weight champion who was immortalized on screen by Robert De Niro in ‘Raging Bull,’ has died at the age of 95.
According to TMZ, LaMotta died on Tuesday in a nursing home due to Pneumonia.
LaMotta’s death was announced by his kin on social media, with his eldest daughter Christi LaMotta paying tribute on Facebook.
His daughter confirmed that LaMotta due to complications from pneumonia and 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.”
De Niro, who portrayed LaMotta in Martin Scorsese’s drama ‘Raging Bull,’ issued a statement over his death.
He said, “Rest in Peace, Champ.”
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.
A member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, LaMotta fought professionally from 1941-54 and had a record of 83 wins, 19 losses and 4 draws, with 30 knockouts.
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.
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. (ANI)