Marcel Cerdan vs Chris Eubank Sr At MW

The Tony Zale who destroyed Graziano in the third fight would probably have done something similar to Nigel Benn and I'd pick him to beat Eubank too.

I can't see Eubank or Benn surviving 10 rounds with Lamotta after a shoulder injury in the 1st round either.

I think Zale-Cerdan-Lamotta is just a higher level than Benn-Eubank.

 

i disagree with that, zale was there for the taking post ww2. benn might have been wild and hurtable but graziano is more of both things.

me either, never said cerdan wasn't tough.

at their best zale and lamotta are the 2 best names there by a fair distance, but cerdan didn't fight the best versions.

 

the above just keeps getting regurgitated by some people all the time without ever recognizing the same is true for Cerdan.

he was in his 16th year as a Pro too when he met Zale & LaMotta.

Zale & Cerdan were at the end of their careers equally, while Jake was in the middle end of his peak.

You always have to apply the same questions & answers to Both fighters and all fighters. Top flight Cerdan was better than both of them.

and as to the Post's proposed question, Eubank and/or Benn they have as good a chance as any top flight fighter at beating Cerdan, LaMotta or Zale in that by SIZE they ARE L-HWs in Cerdan's period...

and Cerdan would be a LW cum WELTERWEIGHT in todays boxing world, such is the reality of fighters competing in the last 40 years, so they are quite different divisions in truth

 

Eubank and Benn were middleweights in 1990.
They weighed in on the same day they fought.

 

hey Unforgiven, I don't mean they didn't fight at middleweight, I mean SIZE, height & weight...

Middles now and in the last 30, 40 years are 5'10" - 6'1" average, in Cerdan's period they would have been typically fighting as L-HWs cum HW... think Billy Conn

and in this day & age, Cerdan would never have seen middleweight, think Hatton.

the changes in times and in the manner fighters have both, the time & are encouraged from the beginning of their careers to fight at such n such divisions, such is the SIZE based practice today, in Cerdan's period most fighters fought much closer to their own natural weight.

Most fighters today (MOST), in ALL divisions, in Stature, are Bigger than their predecessors. that's what i'm saying.

 

I don't think it applies to Benn and Eubank in 1990.
I think they were both 5'9.
Yes, they did have to make weight but the fighters in 1940s did that too. Often struggling.
It's true Eubank used to walk around at 180 pounds but I guess LaMotta did too. LaMotta was a big guy who always cut A LOT to make middleweight.

The only measure is what they weighed and when they had to weigh-in.
The days of Eubank and Benn was still the old school era in terms of weighing in. In the UK it wasn't until after Eubank-Watson 2 that weighing in early became popular and eventually compulsory, due to safety.

Yes, nowadays fighters are bigger. But 1990 isn't nowadays.

 

it's a fair point that cerdan was likely in the same stage of his career as lamotta.

but was it not still his peak? maybe not, but 5 years before he was still fighting algerians.

 

Have you ever fought an Algerian ?
..... they're tough.

 

I do think the level of Eubank -Watson- Benn British rivalry was world class but no more so than the earlier British Title Kaylor-Christie-Graham period or before that the Minter-Fineghan- Sibson British title period. The Uk always produced world class middleweight contenders that were as good as anyone but the actual world champion. What amplified The Eubank-Benn-Watson era was the introduction of bogus belts with "World champion" emblazoned on them when in reality they were a dressed up a British title rivalry. Nothing more.

Cerdan kayoed the real world champion. It's about levels.

 

teak tough algerians? could be true but it doesn't have the same ring imo.

actually i don't watch it much, but the algerian am's are the best i've seen out of north africa

 

Yeah, there's a limit to how much they could do back then. They couldn't be healthy 175 pounders at fight time 9pm, while weighing in at 159 for midday or 1pm. Nowadays that is possible, while being solid and healthy as well. They have a whole day and night to replenish, sleep, rest, everything.
Back then they just didn't have the same benefits.
Methods have probably improved too, yes. But even with primitive basic methods, clearly a 36 hour period to recover allows a completely different body to only 8-10 stressful pre-fight hours.

 

yeah i didn't mean to imply eubank would have a 20lb weight advantage or anything, just that he started at 160 then went up while cerdan topped out at mw.

 

I'd just like to point out : Alan Minter was in fact world champion.

I'd put Minter (briefly) and Herol Graham too, a clear notch above Benn, Watson and Eubank, at middleweight.