Just watched Cerdan for the first time. He seems a skilled boxer-puncher with aggresion. He packs a punch in both hands, in the right hand and left hook. His combinations are precise, crisp and powerful. And most importantly he lets his hands go. I also admired his little side steps mid-combiantion to get his angles. What do you guys think about him?
The IBRO ranks him #7 at Middleweight. He is a fun fighter to watch - that is for sure, seldom a dull moment with him in the ring... But his style is dogbutt ugly I do agree with your assessment of him being a 2 handed Fighter with good combinations and very good power. I think he lacked a little on defense but his chin is pretty good and with his aggressive style he is going to be in range a lot simply because he is pressing the action. I think he was aggressive bacause he couldn't afford not to be, he was pretty small for a Middleweight (I know he was still a welter in 1938 and that he was certainly full grown by then) For all his stamina, power, aggressiveness and accuracy he didn't impress me as anything but average in terms of handspeed. If you are the smaller guy without a speed edge what to you do? You better force things or you will get picked apart by any half decent fighter. I think his best wins were over Williams and Abrams and Zale, I think those were all very good to great fighters and any man with their scalps on his belt has my respect.
I saw Cerdans first fight in america,Dec.6, 1946 against Georgie Abrams MSG..Close decision for Cerdan;against the underated Geoirgie Abrams, who shortly later lost a disputed decision to a prime Sugar Ray Robinson..Marcel Cerdan at 32 years of age was on the downside by then..During the war Cerdan , a welterweight then, was talked of as an opponent for welter champ,Henry Armstrong...Oh what a war that would have been...Two trains colliding... I think that Cerdan woulkd have beaten Lamotta in their sceduled second fight...But tragedy intervined, with the fatal plane crash...At his peak Marcel Cerdan would be a handful for any welter or middleweight...Great swarming fighter was Marcel...
I strongly disagree. Cerdan was tailor made for Lamotta. A come forward fighter who Lamotta can outswarm, outwork, and outmuscle. Cerdan was a great fighter, and great technician, good two fisted puncher, he just did not match up well with Lamotta. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onb-p3YsQk8[/ame] Notice how jake lamotta beats the dog **** out of cerdan even before the injury(which happened because jake was much stronger), credited with a knockdown on a left hook in 1st round...nothing was stopping that fierce tiger lamotta that night! He wanted that title badly! He had been so deprived of it all those years he was avoided
I think Cerdan was a great fighter. Top Techician, two fisted assasin, very intelligent. I like his style on film. I do think he had issues though with certain styles. I also think think Cerdan has a very thin resume for a great fighter. I would have liked to have seen him taken on robinson, and more members of the murders row.
I think he took to many risks at times. Like Vockerman said, he needed to be aggressive but sometimes he was to aggressive for his own good, meaning his defence lacked to much due to beeing too aggressive. If this makes sense.
One of my favorite fighters, power in both fists and great heart. The way he broke down and decimated Tony Zale is one of my favorite boxing moments of all time. Tragic ending for a great warrior.