Today in Boxing History: Robinson massacres LaMotta in Chicago

On this day in Chicago in 1929, seven members of George “Bugs” Moran’s gang were lined up against a garage wall on the North Side and gunned down by members of Al Capone’s crew. The event became known as the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.”

And on this day in 1951, boxing had its own St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, as Sugar Ray Robinson won the world middleweight title with a 13th-round stoppage of Jake LaMotta at Chicago Stadium. While no one died, LaMotta received one of the most brutal beatings in boxing history.

The two fighters had met five times before, with Robinson winning four close and competitive decisions. Their last meeting was in 1945. A year later, Robinson won the world welterweight title with a decision over Tommy Bell and LaMotta won the world middleweight title in 1949 with TKO of Marcel Cerdan. Late in 1950, Robinson decided to move up in weight and challenge for LaMotta’s middleweight title, setting the stage for a sixth bout.

By this point, LaMotta was having serious problems making the 160-pound middleweight limit. In losing a large amount of weight very fast, he zapped himself of strength and energy. For his previous defense, LaMotta was forced to allow Laurent Dauthuille to hit him for 14 rounds until he tired, allowing LaMotta to knock him out in the 15th round.

With Robinson, LaMotta took the fight to Robinson and the first 10 rounds were competitive. However, from then on, Robinson began to hit his opponent at will. The bout earned its nickname in the 13th round, when Robinson put LaMotta against the ropes and hit with a seemingly never-ending barrage of punches. But LaMotta would not go down. Finally, referee Frank Sikora stopped the bout at 2:04 in the 13th. LaMotta has always insisted that Robinson would have collapsed from exhaustion had Sikora allowed the fight to continue.

It was the final meeting for the two all-time greats. LaMotta went 5-4-1 following the loss and retired in 1954. Robinson went on to win the middleweight title four more times.