I've always wondered about him. Just how good he was. He had a phenomenal record of 110-4 with 65 KO's. Of course, virtually all of those fights were against European opponents. His only major fights against Americans were his title winning effort against a past-his-prime Zale and, of course, his unfortunate title losing effort to LaMotta, where he fought courageously one-armed until he had to quit on his stool. Would he have beaten LaMotta with 2 good arms? How would he have done against some of the top middles of his era? How would he have done against the Fabulous Five of Leonard, Duran, Hearns, Hagler and Benitez? I've only seen a few clips of him but the impression I got was of a hairy, muscled 2 fisted dynamo. Basically, a smaller version of Marciano, whom he somewhat resembled. Any thoughts?
Very capable fighter who certainly in my view would have bested LaMotta in shape. I’d have to think about him against the Four.
Unfortunately, we'll never really know. he was deprived of the opportunity to demonstrate his quality @the world class level until after the war (& likely his prime too) was over. Given what a determined battle he was able to wage for several rounds while reduced to doubling, tripling, quadrupling, & quintupling up on right hands, I'd say there's a compelling reason to think he could win w/ 2 hands. Incidentally, their fight looks to have been 1 of the most brutal & grueling in MW history: This content is protected
Hard two-handed puncher Great combinations Come forward pressure fighting for 15 (fast) rounds. He would've been a nightmare for any MW in History. He knocks out all the Fab 5 except maybe Hagler (who he definitely beats by decision). One of my personal fav
Cerdan was likely past his prime when he won the title. By then, his stamina has to be considered suspect. He was gassed in the last three rounds in his fight with Anton Raadik and was down three times in the 10th round. He was set to fight Zale before he lost his first fight to Delannoit, and then had to hustle against him in the rematch to regain his place as a leading contender. I'm not sure how good he was before all this since most of his top foes, like Georgie Abrams and Holman Williams, were past their primes. I also tend to think he ran out of gas against LaMotta before he injured his shoulder. I'm not contesting that he deserved the shot against Zale above any other contenders, but I agree that insofar as the question about his standing as an all-time great middleweight goes, the answer is a mystery.
I'm starting work on a bio of Cerdan - there is no good English language biography. Part-time endeavor so will be a few years! Will share interesting tidbits as I find them. One thing to not overlook is, like so many of his era, WW2 robbed Cerdan of 5 years of his prime - he didn't box at all for at least 18 months at the start. When he returned he fought at a ludicrous rate (again common at the time) - nearly every month when healthy. That has to take a toll. One of the great what could have been is that Mike Jacobs announced he wanted to get Ray Robinson to Paris in 1945 to fight Cerdan when they were both fighting at welterweight. Now that would have been a good yardstick!
