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Early life

Marcellin Cerdan was born at 9:00pm on 22 July 1916 in the "Little Paris" neighbourhood of Sidi Bel Abbès in Algeria. He was the fourth son of Antonio Cerdán, a day labourer, and Asunción Cascales, pied-noirs of Spanish origin.²

Boxing career

Cerdan began boxing professionally on 4 November 1934 in Meknes, Morocco, beating Marcel Bucchianeri by a decision in six rounds. He then ran a streak of 47 wins in a row between that first bout and 4 January 1939, when he lost for the first time, to Harry Craster by a disqualification in five rounds in London. Cerdan campaigned heavily in the French territories of Algeria and Morocco during that part of his career, as well as in metropolitan France. In 1938, he beat Omar Kouidri in a 12-round decision at Casablanca to claim the French welterweight title.

After his first loss, Cerdan recorded five consecutive wins, which 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).

Cerdan's winning streak eventually reached 23 bouts before he suffered a defeat to Victor Buttin by disqualification for a second time, in eight rounds in Algiers in 1942. They would later re-match in 1945, and Cerdan would avenge the defeat by knocking Buttin out in the third round.

For his next bout after the first fight with Buttin though, Cerdan put his title on the line against José Ferrer (namesake of the Hollywood star). He knocked out Ferrer in one round,³ and won four more bouts in a row before facing another boxer with a namesake: James Toney, who shared that name with another James Toney 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 Léon Foquet by a knockout in one round. He retained that title a couple of times before losing it to rugged Belgian 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.⁴ Cerdan became a world champion by knocking Zale out in the 12th round in Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, New Jersey on 21 September 1948.

Later years

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. The affair lasted from summer 1948 until his death in autumn 1949. They were very devoted to each other and Piaf dedicated one of her most famous songs, Hymne à l'amour, to Cerdan.

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 give up after the tenth round.⁵ It would be the last fight of Cerdan's life. A contract was signed for a rematch and Cerdan went to training camp for it, but before camp began, he boarded a flight from Paris to New York to visit Piaf, who was performing there.

The aircraft crashed into a mountain on São Miguel Island in the Azores, while on approach to Santa Maria for a scheduled stopover, killing all 48 people on board, including Cerdan and French violinist Ginette Neveu.⁶⁷ The following day, LaMotta lauded Cerdan's sportsmanship, saying: "You had to fight him as I did to know what a fine sportsman he was."⁸ Cerdan was interred in the Cimetière du Sud, Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France.

Legacy

Cerdan's record was 110 wins and 4 losses, with 65 wins by knockout.⁹

He is a member, along with LaMotta and Zale, of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

In 1983, Cerdan and Piaf had their lives turned into a big screen biography by Claude Lelouch. The film, Édith et Marcel, starred Marcel Cerdan Jr. in the role of his father and Évelyne Bouix as Piaf. He is portrayed by actor Jean-Pierre Martins in the 2007 Piaf biopic La Môme (entitled La Vie en Rose in English-speaking countries).

In 1991, a sports arena located in Levallois-Perret, the Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan, was named in his honor.

Professional boxing record

Titles in boxing

Major world titles

• NYSAC middleweight champion (160 lbs)
• NBA (WBA) middleweight champion (160 lbs)

The Ring magazine titles

• The Ring middleweight champion (160 lbs)

Regional/International titles

• European welterweight champion (147 lbs)
• European middleweight champion (160 lbs) (2×)

Undisputed titles

• Undisputed middleweight champion

See also

• List of middleweight boxing champions

External links

• Marcel Cerdan Official website, created by Nicolas Cerdan, his grandson Archived 31 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
• Marcel Cerdan Heritage – Vintage Sportswear (Eng/Fr), created by Nicolas Cerdan, his grandson
• IBHOF.com International Boxing Hall of Fame Homepage
• Boxing record for Marcel Cerdan from BoxRec (registration required)
• Here's Looking At You, Casablanca: Marcel Cerdan

References

1. "Birth and death certificate". Archived from the original on 15 October 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20071015214301/http://www.marcelcerdan.com/ImagesFamille/Famille323.jpg ↩

2. Systems, eZ. "Les origines familiales de Marcel Cerdan". La revue française de Généalogie (in French). Retrieved 30 October 2018. https://www.rfgenealogie.com/s-informer/infos/celebrites/les-origines-familiales-de-marcel-cerdan ↩

3. Marcel Cerdan vs José Ferrer in 1942 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok668rOv_4c ↩

4. "The Lineal Middleweight Champions". The Cyber Boxing Zone Encyclopedia. http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/middle.htm ↩

5. Marcel Cerdan vs Jake LaMotta in 1949 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laAN5PhKgKI ↩

6. Lockheed L-749-79-46 Constellation F-BAZN's accident description and causes (Flight Safety Foundation). Aviation-safety.net (28 October 1949). Retrieved on 6 August 2014. http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19491028-0 ↩

7. Marcel Cerdan's tragic disappearance (1949) Archived 23 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine – Marcel Cerdan Heritage http://www.marcelcerdanheritage.com/2en.aspx?sr=12 ↩

8. LaMotta lauds Cerdan for great sportsmanship. News.google.com (28 October 1949). Retrieved on 6 August 2014. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=AQpQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9FQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3268,5997305&dq=marcel+cerdan+dies+jake+lamotta&hl=en ↩

9. Marcel Cerdan official website: Biography – scorecard (French: biographie – son palmarès) Archived 2 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine http://www.marcelcerdan.com/BioCombats.aspx ↩