Great - Nat Fleischer saw him in Europe or North Africa as early as 1938 or 1939, Europe began championing him shortly after, as did Britain and America when he arrived there. He was great and it is clear to see too.
His record is pretty impressive - 110 fights 65 kos 4 loses ( 1 of them was the LaMotta fight ) probably 2nd to Carpienter as Frances best fighter, could be in the top 10 of best Europeans, as to his fighting style, one of the writers of yesteryear described him as " a well armored tank " he looks very strong and was durable by all accounts, who knows the outcome if he didn't fall heavy in the LaMotta fght, he beat such as- Delannoit, Holman Williams, George Abrahams, Bert Gilroy, some fair names don't you think, fav match up for me, him and Tiger. keep well.
I've always been interested in his story. In and out of the ring, it sounds fascinating and obviously very tragic. Would love to read people's views about him & his life.
Tragic that his life ended in the circumstances that it did. He would have had a good chance of regaining his title in the rematch with Jake La Motta,I think.
I think it’s clear he had great ability and a very fan friendly style but his competition level was very underwhelming for the most part. Zale was basically shot for example but yeah great fighter but an underwhelming resume IMO.
some people keep saying that and forget to look at Cerdan's years in the ring, like Cerdan was a spring chicken, there was only a couple of years age between them, and both of them had fought near as long as each other... they were both at or near the end of their Careers. as to the Lamotta fight and Cerdan's obvious injury in it... Robert Villemain is a good testimony as what the outcome would always be with Marcel.
To be honest, some fighters who fought in Europe were not regarded that highly by the American media or fans, often just because they didn't know much about them. I think Cerdan may have been one of those.
It takes ages, but if you go through the guys he fought this side of the Atlantic, none of them emerge as guys of consequence in any weight class. At all. It's not like he was beating up guys who were even contenders in the future.
I really like the way Cerdan looks on film. He's a sharp aggressor, possessing quick hands, good pop, a varied offense, toughness, etc. I do believe he could have been competitive with just about anyone who ranked in the 1940s and it was a loaded era. With that, his resume just doesn't allow for a significant historical placement. I too often see him placed within the top-10/15 and I have an awful difficult time seeing how. He didn't appear to be a Roy Jones-esque prodigy and he beat too few relevant fighters.
