How could such a tough man commit such a cowardly act

anger issues.

It happens all the time. The dude had issues - he's a bull in a china shop. That was the point.

He didn't beat her because he knew she wouldn't fight back. He beat her because he had anger issues as mentioned above and he couldn't control his jealousy. Its not cowardly, its a different type of personality flaw.

You´ll probably find that a lot of "tough men" are basically just sociopathic thugs who´ll beat up anyone and their grandmother if they have the misfortune of getting in the way somehow.



"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

In addition to LaMotta being a scumbag, boxing is actually filled with fighters involved in domestic abuse.

Sad but true.

The greatest of them all, Ray Robinson, routinely beat him wife. His son believed that was the reason that she suffered 4 miscarriages.

Michael Spinks, Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Carlos Monzon, Arturo Gatti, Diego Corrales, Jack Johnson, Floyd Mayweather.....the list goes on and on.

Joe Louis admitted in his autobiography that he almost choked his mistress, Lena Horne, to death in an argument over golf.

LaMotta admits in his autobiography to doing things FAR worse than beating his wife like he did in the movie. Simply heinous acts.

He definitely had paranoia and jealousy issues. And for no reason for the most part. Joe Pesci's character as Jake's bro sure didn't treat his wife or kids well either. What a couple of a--holes.

Dini

I say this not to excuse his actions (which are indefensible) but rather to possibly explain them. His father forced him to fight other kids for pennies, and to entertain the other men in his neighborhood. This was such a common occurrence for him that he developed into a fighter. This to me seems like an incredibly damaging and traumatizing thing to do to a child, especially for a father to do to a son. He learned to fight not by studying it, or developing a passion for the discipline of "the sweet science" but from having to obey a tyrannical command, and draw on an inchoate and primal rage. This rage, and the bully tactics he used in the ring, never left him, obviously. In fact, the horrific beatings he was dispensing became his livelihood, thus negative actions were positively reinforced. I am no shrink, but I know that if childhood trauma is not addressed and repaired, it will crop up in any number of bad ways for the adult.

How is beating someone a cowardly act? You risk getting hit back or getting paid back later in your sleep.
Please get your logic right. I know it's called cowardly but really it isn't.