Jake LaMotta, the legendary “Bronx Bull,” is remembered for his ferocious, relentless style in the ring, but his career is permanently marked by a controversial moment: a fixed fight. The bout in question took place against Billy Fox at Madison Square Garden on November 14, 1947, a technical knockout loss that immediately drew suspicion from the boxing community and the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC). LaMotta’s decision to intentionally lose this match was instrumental in his eventual, long-delayed ascent to the middleweight championship. It remains one of the most widely cited examples of organized crime’s pervasive influence on the sport during that era.
The Context: Mob Control and Title Shot Ambition
The boxing landscape of the 1940s and 1950s was significantly compromised by the control exerted by organized crime figures who sought to manipulate match outcomes for gambling profits. After the end of Prohibition, the Mafia turned to professional boxing as a new source of lucrative, easily fixed revenue. Jake LaMotta, despite being one of the world’s top middleweight contenders, had been repeatedly denied a shot at the championship for five years, a situation many attributed to his refusal to cooperate with these powerful underworld figures.
LaMotta realized that the only path to the middleweight title lay through the mob, specifically through figures like Frankie Carbo and his associate Blinky Palermo, who effectively controlled who received title opportunities. The motivation for throwing the fight against Billy Fox was not financial gain, but rather the promise of a guaranteed title match against the reigning middleweight champion, Marcel Cerdan, or possibly Tony Zale. LaMotta testified that he actually paid the Mafia $20,000 of his own money to secure this title promise, a figure that equates to over $200,000 in modern value, underscoring his desperate ambition. He viewed fixing a fight as the only viable route to the championship belt.
The Fixed Bout Against Billy Fox
The event took place on November 14, 1947, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, pitting LaMotta against Billy Fox, a fighter managed by mobster Blinky Palermo. The circumstances leading up to the bout were immediately suspicious; LaMotta was the pre-fight favorite, yet the betting odds abruptly shifted, making Fox an 11-to-5 favorite before soaring to 3-to-1 just hours before the bell. Bookmakers eventually refused to take any further wagers on Fox, a clear signal that the outcome was predetermined.
During the fight itself, LaMotta’s performance was uncharacteristically passive and listless, a stark contrast to his typical relentless, aggressive style. He later described having to hold Fox up in the first round because his opponent seemed ready to fall from a couple of light jabs, indicating Fox was not a credible threat on his own merits. The fixed outcome culminated in the fourth round when Fox landed a series of punches, sending LaMotta reeling against the ropes. LaMotta, instead of defending himself with his usual tenacity, intentionally feigned exhaustion and a lack of will, allowing Fox to continue the battering until the referee stopped the bout, ruling it a technical knockout.
Fallout and LaMotta’s Public Confession
The suspicious nature of the loss immediately drew intense scrutiny from the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC), which withheld the fighters’ purses and launched an investigation. LaMotta initially faced an indefinite suspension from the NYSAC, not for throwing the fight, but for concealing a pre-existing spleen condition, a separate charge used by the commission to penalize him. Although he remained suspended for a time, the promise of the title shot was eventually fulfilled, with LaMotta defeating Marcel Cerdan in 1949 to win the middleweight championship.
The full truth of the fixed fight remained officially unconfirmed until 1960, when Senator Estes Kefauver led a Senate subcommittee investigating the extensive influence of organized crime in professional boxing. LaMotta served as a witness, testifying under oath that he had indeed thrown the 1947 bout against Billy Fox in exchange for the long-promised title opportunity. This public admission, while confirming what many in the boxing world suspected, led to his temporary suspension and fines, and cemented the story of the fixed fight as a controversial part of his legacy.