What can you tell me about Marcel Cerdan? I don't hear his name much, just wondered if he was any good or if anyone has any information on him. I just watched him bout with Lamotta and was suprised by his strangely good record.
Let me assure you that Marcel Cerdan was a great middleweight...I saw Cerdan in his first fight in America in MSG,1946...He beat a top fighter Georgie Abrams, who lost a disputed decision to Ray Robinson in 1947... Cerdan won the middleweight title from a faded Tony Zale,in 1948...In 1949, the 33year old Cerdan lost his title to Jake Lamotta, in the 10th round..Cerdan was wrestled to the floor, in the first round injuring his shoulder badly...Otherwise I believe he would have beat Lamotta...He died in a plane crash 4 months later while flying to America for a return bout with Lamotta...Tradgedy for Cerdan was a great fighter...Hope I answered your questions...B.B.
I doubt it. Check this out [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onb-p3YsQk8[/ame] Watch the first round. Jake floors cerdan and beats the dog **** out of him BEFORE the injury. Cerdan's injury only gave him an excuse from the inevitable...Lamotta was beating him that night. Jake was a hungry tiger that night. Deprived from the title shot and sick of cutting weight, Jake let it all out in that first round. Cerdan was in for hell all night shoulder injury or not. Just remember, it was Lamotta's strength which caused the injury to Cerdan. Cerdan never beats lamotta in my judgement.
Very tough and rugged while at the same time fundamentally sound and well schooled. Fought out of a high, almost peek-a-boo style tight guard, and threw a dynamite right hand out of it. A lot of his best work isn't even caught on film. He didn't really catch the exposure he deserved until the latter days of his career. Even by the time he bulled through an aging Zale he was nearing the end. He could've gone on for a while longer had he not sustained the shoulder injury against LaMotta, but methinks given his style he probably wouldn't have hung around at the world stage for to much longer anyways. I too think LaMotta may've always been a foil for him, though. Jake's strength was pretty much unsurpassed at Middleweight, which negated Cerdan's aggressive style and would've always done so the way I see it.
Cheers for the info guys. Such a shame about the plane crash, it seems he could have played a bigger part in such a great era. LaMotta seems to be hitting him with some mean body shots in their fight, I'll have to watch some more Cerdan fights to really get a better picture of his style. I'm sure the rematch was greatly anticipated.
You take nutthugging to unbelievable levels. As has been pointed out to you countless times it wasnt a knock down it was a clear throw. Maybe Lamotta woud have won anyway, maybe not
Yeah, he was a great mw, I rate him solidly in the Top20 perhaps Top15. Astonishing considering it is said that he was better at welterweight. Sadly we never saw him there. I think WW2 killed his prime years too.
I'm really enjoying watching what footage there is of Cerdan. He looks good here against a Zale who seemed a little past it but still game: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cffrGzLO6i0&feature=PlayList&p=88BAC5C96547FDAF&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=39[/ame] A nice compact style he had, looked like a decent fight too.
Could anyone tell me what location his second bout with Lamotta was suppost to take place and what date it was set for? I'm doing a poster for it and wanna get the dates right, cheers.
Cerdan fought LaMotta for several more rounds with only one useable arm(his right, which wasn't his best punch). That speaks volumes. I don't see why he couldn't beat him with two working hands. Be a helluva fight, but Marcel was no slouch. I have the next day reports from two major Detroit newspapers (not the laughably LaMotta-biased New York papers) and there was no knockdown in the first. Just a throw and an injury. LaMotta hurt his knuckle in the middle of the fight(not early as NY suggested) but it was still useable and he was using BOTH hands throughout according to the primary Detroit sources and the film, which supports this.
