How good was Cerdan?

Cerdan looked good vs Zale but T.Zale was said to be pasted it I would have to look at that vid again I know his guard was pretty high and his chin was well tucked in which is a great defensive tactic which would make it hard for the above fighters to catch him as he punched which was pretty often judging by his one armed defense against LaMotta and the Zale match though in saying that Charles was something else in the ring, I think Cerdan achieved much more than Charles at this lower weight though, Ray Robinson was said to have ducked Cerdan so that should give people a goood idea of what his rivals thought about him during that amazing era.

 

I think its hard to say ,he may have been slightly past his best when he went to the US.There are a lot of names on his resume that aren't exactly ATG's,probably top 20 middleweight, inside the top 15 might be a little ambitious. Some have him top ten and some nowhere,very difficult to quantify him imo.

 

It's guess work on my part really.

 

Overrated

 

My take would be incomplete on Cerdan due to World War II and his early death.

His statistical record is awesome. 111 victories in 115 fights. None of his four defeats were embarrassing. Two early losses by foul. A loss by close decision, later reversed, in the other guy's hometown at 32, and a loss at 33 to Jake LaMotta in which Cerdan had to fight with one arm after an injury.

On the other hand, just when Cerdan was coming into his own at 23, the war breaks out, and Cerdan's career is more or less put on hold for over six years.

When he starts again at a world level at 30, his best days might have been behind him. He still wins his way to the championship. Zale was a worthy champion, but perhaps past his best. Still, he was the champ and the man Cerdan had to go through.

So my feeling is that overrated is too harsh. He's is one of those boxers who through no fault of their own, had a truncated career. He looks good on film, generally except for Zale against moderate opposition, but the number of top victims is thin, and it might be fair to say he lacks either the one big win, or the depth, to earn a really high all-time rating,

while remaining in many ways an ornament to boxing history.

 

Mon Legionnaire.

 

I kind of think he beats LaMotta if not for the arm injury.

 

Those who rate Cerdan highly have watched his films.

Cerdan was a high guard pressure fighter with a lot of power, and excellent record.

 

He was a great fighter.

 

There are quite a few videos of Cerdan fighting (more than Greb lol)
and he looks pretty good to me. Looks real strong, high pressure fighter,
took a good punch, was agile and had all the punches. And a murderous
puncher at that.

What's not to like? Certainly didn't have many US pelts on his belt but that's
sort of Americo-centric. He's kind of the Ted Williams of boxing....how highly
ranked would he have been if WWII hadn't intervened.

 

One could say you are a bit uncerdan then.

I lik what i see. I rckon he is a great fighter.

 

People who complain about an amero-centric bias against Cerdan need to understand that Cerdan didnt even prove he was the best MW in France much less the world. The guys record is ridiculously padded and yes, he looks good on film but consider who hes fighting. He damn well better look good against those guys. They werent world class. Zale is the best pelt on his resume and yet Zale was totally shot and fought like it in that fight. Zale had spent years by this point ducking LaMotta and yet some try to discredit LaMottas win forgetting LaMotta was also injured and unlike the coddled mob connected Frenchman who got a quickie title shot Jake simply toughed it out, fought through his injury, and won. Ive had the pleasure of speaking to people who ringside at that fight and read a ton of first hand accounts and the majority state that LaMotta was beating the hell out of Cerdan before his injury and would have picked him to repeat. In fact, lets not forget that thd past several times Cerdan had looked bad he had blamed his shoulder. I point this out because at best you can argue theres no gaurantee that his shoulder would hold up in a rematch and at worst the guy chronically made excuses to hide the fact that he was a mere mortal.

 

Not showing up for the rematch proved he was mortal.