Lamotta vs. Dauthuille

Fight Post #7

• Date: Feb 21, 1949

• Venue: Montreal Forum

• Result: Dauthuille W10 Lamotta

Synopsis:

This fight occurred four months before Jake Lamotta beat Marcel Cerdan to claim the middleweight title. Dauthuille, The Tarzan of Buzenval, was from France and had a record of 28-7-3 going into the bout with Lamotta, of which all but seven took place in his home country. Two of those seven bouts had taken place at the Montreal Forum in the preceding months, which were decision wins for Dauthuille over Pete Zaduk and Ralph Zannelli.

Dauthuille scored the upset over Lamotta by unanimous decision thanks to his accurate counter-punching in a tough scrap where both fighters were cut.

The two would fight again the following year in Detroit for the middleweight title, which was Dauthuille’s lone career title shot. In the rematch, The Ring magazine’s 1950 Fight of the Year, Lamotta rescued his title by scoring a final-round knockout when he was behind on all three scorecards.