On June 16, 1949, in Detroit, he became middleweight champion when the Frenchman Marcel Cerdan couldn't continue after the 10th round. Jake LaMotta in 2012 (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for The Buoniconti Fund To Cure Paralysis) He didn't get a title shot until 10 fights later. LaMotta was "stopped" by Fox in the fourth round on Nov. "I purposely lost a fight to Billy Fox because they promised me that I would get a shot to fight for the title if I did," LaMotta said in 1970 interview printed in Peter Heller's 1973 book "In This Corner: 40 World Champions Tell Their Stories." "He was a brawler, and if you took a punch, so what? He went back and he took another punch and tried to hit the other guy." "He's the first champion out of Gleason's Gym and one that we brag about all the time," said Bruce Silverglade, the longtime owner of Gleason's Gym in Brooklyn, where LaMotta got his start. Jake LaMotta in 1949 (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) The Bronx Bull, as he was known in his fighting days, compiled an 83-19-4 record with 30 knockouts, in a career that began in 1941 and ended in 1954. "I just want people to know, he was a great, sweet, sensitive, strong, compelling man with a great sense of humor, with eyes that danced," Baker told TMZ. LaMotta died Tuesday at a Miami-area hospital from complications of pneumonia, according to fiancee Denise Baker. MIAMI (CBSNewYork/AP) - Jake LaMotta, the former middleweight champion whose life in and out of the ring was depicted in the film "Raging Bull," for which Robert DeNiro won an Academy Award, has died, his fiancee said Wednesday.
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