Marcel Cerdan
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Marcel Cerdan (July 22, 1916 – October 27, 1949) was born in the French colony of Algeria. He was a French world boxing champion who was considered by many boxing experts and fans to be France's and Europe's greatest boxer, and by many more fans to be one of the best to come from Africa. He had a life that was marked by his sporting achievements, social lifestyle and, ultimately, tragedy.
Marcel Cerdan was born in Sidi Bel-Abbes, Algeria (then legally part of France). He began boxing professionally on November 4, 1934 in Meknes, Morocco, by beating Marcel Bucchianeri by a decision in six rounds. He ran a streak of 47 wins in a row between that first bout and January 4, 1939, when he lost for the first time, to Harry Cresner by a disqualification in five rounds at London. Among the fighters he beat during that streak were Al Baker, and Aisa Attaf, beaten twice by knockout. Cerdan campaigned heavily in Morocco and Algeria during that part of his career, and began to campaign also in his parents' home country of France. In 1938, in what could perhaps be considered a territorial oddity, he beat Omar Kouidri by a decision in 12 rounds at Casablanca to claim the French welterweight title.
After his first loss, Cerdan put up a string of 5 wins that led him to challenge Saviello Turiello for Europe's welterweight title in Milan, Italy. He won the European title by a decision in 15 rounds to continue his ascent towards the championship (back then, it was considered essential to own at least a Continental title belt to earn a world title shot; nowadays, it is not considered as important).
That winning streak eventually grew to reach 23 wins, but he suffered a defeat to Victor Buttin by a disqualification in 8 rounds in Algiers.
For his next bout he put the title on the line against Jose Ferrer (namesake of the Hollywood star). He knocked out Ferrer in one round, and won four more bouts in a row before facing another boxer with a namesake: James Toney, who shared that name with another boxer who would become world Middleweight champion five decades later. Cerdan knocked out Toney in two rounds to keep this new winning streak alive. The new streak would reach 37 wins. In between, he joined the American allies in World War II during 1944, and he won the Inter-Allied Championship. He also went up in weight to the Middleweight division, and won the French title by beating Assane Douf by a knockout in three rounds. He later claimed the vacant European title by beating Leon Foquet by a knockout in one round. He retained that title a couple of times before losing it to Cyrille Delannoit by a decision in 15 at Brussels, Belgium. Soon, he went back to Belgium and re-took the title by beating Delannoit, also by decision.
Finally, after the rematch with Delannoit, Cerdan was given a world title opportunity and he travelled to the United States, where he beat world Middleweight champion Tony Zale. Cerdan became a world champion by knocking Zale out in the 12th round at New Jersey on September 21, 1948.
During his short period as a world champion, Cerdan became a popular figure of the Paris scene. Although married with three children, he had an affair with the famous singer Édith Piaf, a legend in her own right.
For his first defense, Cerdan returned to the United States, where he fought Jake LaMotta in Detroit. Cerdan was knocked down in round one, his shoulder was dislocated, and he had to surrender after the tenth round. It would sadly be the last fight of Cerdan's life. A contract was signed for a rematch and Cerdan went to training camp for it, but while flying to the United States to fight the rematch, Cerdan's Air France flight, flown on a Super Constellation, went down in the Azores and everybody aboard died, including the famous violinist Ginette Neveu. Days later, LaMotta expressed words of condolences, praising Cerdan as a great human being. Cerdan was interred in the Cimetière du Sud, Perpignan, Languedoc-Roussillon, France.
LaMotta later shocked the sports world by declaring during a hearing with the FBI, that in order to get a chance at Cerdan's title, he agreed to throw his fight against Billy Fox, to enable the Mafia to make a big monetary hit on the betting lines. Their fight was one of a handful of fights depicted on LaMotta's biographical movie Raging Bull in 1980.
Cerdan's record was 106 wins and 4 losses, with 61 wins by knockout.
He is a member, along with LaMotta and Zale, of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.
In 1983, Cerdan and Piaf had their own lives turned into a big screen biography. The movie, titled Edith and Marcel starred Marcel Cerdan Jr. in the role of his father.
| Preceded by Tony Zale |
World Middleweight Champion 21 Sep 1948– 16 Jun 1949 |
Succeeded by Jake LaMotta |
