Jake LaMotta (right) knocked out Laurent Dauthuille in the closing seconds of the 15th round. Photo by The Ring/Getty Images
You are exhausted. You’re behind on points. You need a knockout blow. The opponent has never been stopped. You have less than three minutes to do the job. It is an impossible situation.
Unless you’re “The Bronx Bull.”
On September 13, 1950, Jake LaMotta scored a spectacular last-minute fifteenth-round knockout of Laurent Dauthuille to save his middleweight championship at Detroit’s Olympia Stadium. The official time was 2:47.
LaMotta was making the first defense of the title he had won from legendary Frenchman Marcel Cerdan. Just four months after losing his championship with a shoulder injury, Cerdan was tragically killed in a plane crash in Portugal. Dauthuille, who had already outpointed LaMotta in February 1949, was looking to recapture the title for France.
After 14 rounds, it looked like Dauthuille would have a second victory over the ferocious New Yorker and the middleweight title around his waist. He was ahead by wide margins on two scorecards and slightly ahead on another. LaMotta needed a miracle.
And found it.
After some braggart antics early in the final round, LaMotta began to let go of his hands. Defensively adept, Dauthuille brilliantly moved his head to avoid the champion’s worst flurries while he was pinned against the ropes. However, LaMotta was not about to give up. Another brutal assault had Dauthuille shriveled up and a vicious left hook put him through the ropes and took him to the edge of the ring. The plucky Frenchman couldn’t beat the count and referee Lou Handler stopped the fight with just 13 seconds remaining.
The fight was later named The Ring Fight of the Year.
