Marcel Cerdan - Underrated?

I actualy think it's as a Welterweight he's likely underrated.

OVerrated if anything as a middle.His body of work doesn't quite merit the high placings he usually gets.

 

He is one of a number of great fighters who never fulfilled his full potential because his career was cut short.

If he had not died in that plane crash then he would not have gone away.

 

He was already 33-34 by the time he died so I don't think he would have been around for much longer. LaMotta seemed to be too strong for him.

In the Marcel Cerdan-Holman Williams fight both fighters were injured but Williams likely worse off since he was incapable of using his footwork which made him a sitting target. Newspapers scored it as a draw.

Cerdan did have some big wins however but at times is about as overrated as he is underrated. See Bert Sugar's top 100 ATG list for example.

 

I don't see anything in Cerdans last fights to suggest that he was a spent force and his next few fights would probably have been potential legacy enhancing fights.

Up next was a fight with LaMotta for the title. A win would have been a big boost, and a competitive loss might have enhanced his resume. Regardles of the outcome of this fight it could have lined up matches with name fighters including Robinson.

 

agree that he's underrated overall

 

This raises an interesting question. Can high praise by a select few be considered overrating along the same lines as moderate praise by the many?

 

Greatest European middleweight of all time; I'd place Laszlo Papp second to Cerdan

He does belong among the top 20 MW's of all time, however, how he would fair in H2H match ups with the likes of Robinson, Fitzsimmons, Burley, Hagler, etc makes him look more like a lower rung MW ATG---the Zale's, Graziano's, Giardello's he could defeat, but not the better men of boxing history

 

Bullseye.

 

I think Cerdan would do fine against any atg middleweight, whether it is Monzon or Hagler. I'd make him an underdog to those two but he would still have a pretty good shot at winning. I'd have him in the lower end of the top 10 all time great middleweights. I uploaded a bunch of Cerdan videos on youtube a few years back, he looks really amazing on film.

 

Yes. I think Cerdan is perhaps the most under rated middle of all time.

He was a bull in the ring with good pressure and huge left hook....the type that could have given the best middle weight version of Sugar Ray Robinson serious trouble.

In addition to great power, chin, and aggressiveness, Cerdan had an advanced for of defense with a high guard. Watch him on film and he'll impress.

 

He's not even the most underrated french middleweight.

 

True that would be Charles Humez.

But other than Humez Cerdan really did make some noise. I think very highly of him but I can rank him to high. He just lacks the depth in his resume. But a very dangerous fighter and nice to watch stylewise.

 

Cerdan didnt fight many of the top names but that isnt necessarily his fault. His best 2 wins in Zale and Holman Williams were both past prime. Both men were 34 and Williams had been in 172fights!!! Quality wins but not prime greats by any means. We never got to see him face Robinson, Burley, Marshall, Graziano, Moore, Booker, Chase, Cocoa Kid. Not his fault as he wasnt fighting in the same boxing scene.

He spent most of his career fighting on the weaker European scene and was very dominant. He was champ for 7years and this is probably the equivilent to Calzaghe been a WBO titlist from 1997-2006 pretty much

If it wasnt for WW2 he would likely have fought Henry Armstrong for the WW title. If he had been able to beat Armstrong and Zale he'd be 1 of the few WW and MW champs in history

He died when he was 34, I'm not sure if he would have achieved any more at that age but if he could some way upset Robinson he would considered 1 of the greats, I think that is a leap too far, especially at 34

Overall hes a very good fighter but somewhat unproven against the best and lost to the best MW he faced, albeit with a shoulder injury