And in the late ‘50s, he served six months jail for promoting the prostitution of a 14-year-old girl while running a bar in Miami. Married six times, he was brutal to his second wife, Vikki. He confessed in later years to having thrown one fight. LaMotta’s life was also filled with controversy. He knew how to attack and he also knew how to turn his head at the last minute to lessen the impact,” he said. “He was in some ways a much more sophisticated fighter than people give him credit for today,” author and boxing historian Thomas Hauser told The Post. I fought Sugar so many times I’m surprised I’m not diabetic,” he once cracked.

“The three toughest fighters I fought were Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Robinson. Until the end of his life LaMotta boasted that those other five fights were close ones, and that he never once hit the canvas. LaMotta won only a single contest against Robinson, but it was Robinson’s first loss after 40 straight wins. His six-fight rivalry with Sugar Ray Robinson - long considered pound-for-pound the greatest fighter that ever lived - was legendary. Throughout, LaMotta was lauded for his iron jaw and ability to keep his footing despite the most brutal beatings.

The Lower East Side native who grew up in the Bronx logged 83 wins - including 30 knockouts - in a career that spanned the 1940s into the early ‘50s. “A warm, wonderful man.” Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film “Raging Bull.” Everett Collection “He was a champ, all the way,” Baker told The Post. LaMotta died of complications from pneumonia in a nursing home near Miami, said his fiance of 15 years, Denise Baker, who called him a fighter to the end. “Rest in Peace, Champ,” De Niro said in a statement.

Boxing legend and former middleweight champion Jake LaMotta - famous for his defiant endurance in the ring and for Robert De Niro’s Oscar-winning portrayal of him in the 1980 film “Raging Bull” - died late Tuesday at age 95.

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