A biography for Jake LaMottahasn’t been written yet.
“When you break bones, they heal up and come back even stronger.”
“Besides being a slum kid with no great education in anything except how to fight and stay alive and steal, I also had this temper.”
“I fought from the time I was eight years old, sometimes three, four fights a night. We did it to eat, and we did it because we were just tough kids.”
“The three toughest fighters I fought were Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Sugar Ray Robinson.”
“You don't compare a guy with 30 or 40 fights with a guy who had 200 fights and fought over 25 years.”
“Boxing never hurt me at all.”
“Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest, pound-for-pound, ever. He fought most of his career with just one loss, and that was to me. He had 131 fights with one loss.”
“Subconsciously - I didn't know it then, I realize it today when I know a little bit more about the mind and the brain - I fought like I didn't deserve to live.”
“I always needed money when I was younger. I had different ways of getting it. A lot of the ways I don't like to talk about.”
“Everybody has a temper, but mine was set on a hair trigger.”
“There's no pensions for old prize fighters.”
“When I was a kid, I wanted to fight Joe Louis. But I think if I had seen Mike Tyson at that time, I would have said, 'Nah, I don't want to fight him.' He's deadly. He could have been one of the great heavyweight champions. But he goofed.”
“People get in auto accidents, they're paralyzed for life. I got hurt worse getting married.”
“I fought in Detroit 23 times.”
“I hypnotized myself so in my subconscious, I believed I couldn't get hurt. And I don't mean 'believe' - I mean believe believe believe.”
“Something's bound to happen to you in a tough fight: cut eye, broken nose or broken hand or something like that. So you could make excuses out of anything, you know, but you got to keep on going if you're a champ or you're a contender.”
“I lost a lot of money, lost my wife and kids.”
“I was a sick animal. I was jealous. I was vicious.”
“You can't fight if you have any compassion or anything like that.”
“Most of the time, husbands and wives argue about stupid, foolish things. If it doesn't mean that much to you, give in to your wife.”