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Marcel Cerdan (July 22, 1916 – October 27,
1949) was a France|French world boxing champion
who was considered by many boxing experts and fans
to be France's and Europe's greatest boxer, and by
many more fans to be one of the best to come out
of that continent. 

Marcel Cerdan was born in Sidi Bel-Abbes, Algeria.
He would have a life that was marked by his
sporting achievements, social lifestyle, and
ultimately, his own, personal tragedy.

Cerdan began boxing professionally on November 4,
1934 in Meknes, Morocco, by beating Marcel
Bucchianeri by a decision in six. He ran a streak
of 47 wins in a row between that first bout and
January 4 of 1939, when he lost for the first
time, to Harry Cresner by a disqualification in
five rounds at London. Among the fighters he beat
during that streak were Al Baker, and Aisa Attaf,
beaten twice by knockout. Cerdan campaigned
heavily in Morocco and Algeria during that part of
his career, and began to campaign also at his
parent's home country of France. In 1938, in what
could perhaps be considered a territorial oddity,
he beat Omar Kouidri by a decision in 12 at
Casablanca to claim the French welterweight title.

After his first loss, Cerdan put up a string of 5
wins that led him to challenge Saviello Turiello
for Europe's welterweight title in Milan, Italy.
He won the European title by a decision in 15 to
continue his ascent towards the championship (back
then, it was considered essential to own at least,
a continental title belt to earn a world title
shot, nowadays, even though having a continental
belt does help get a world title try, having a
continental belt isn't considered as important as
before). 

That winning streak eventually grew to reach 23
wins in a row, but then, he suffered a defeat to
Victor Buttin by a disqualification in eight in
Algiers.

For his next bout he put the title on the line
against a boxer who is the namesake of a Hollywood
star: (boxer) Jose Ferrer. He knocked out Ferrer
in one round, and won four more bouts in a row
before facing another guy with a namesake: James
Toney (1940s boxer)|James Toney, who shared that
name with another boxer who would become world
Middleweight champion five decades later. Cerdan
knocked out this James Toney in two rounds to keep
this new win streak alive. The new streak would
reach 37 wins before being stopped. In between, he
joined the United States|American allies in World
War II during 1944 and he won the inter-allied
championship. He also went up in weight to the
Middleweight division, and won the French title by
beating Assane Douf by a knockout in three. He
later claimed the European title by beating Leon
Foquet by a knockout in one for the vacant title.
He retained that title a couple of times before
losing it to Cyrille Delannoit by a decision in 15
at Brussels, Belgium. Soon, he went back to
Belgium and re-took the title by beating
Delannoit, also by decision. 

Finally, after the rematch with Delannoit, Cerdan
was given a world title opportunity and he
travelled to the United States, where he beat
world Middleweight champion Tony Zale. Cerdan
became a world champion by knocking Zale out in
the 12th round at New Jersey on September 21 of
1948. 

During his short period as a world champion,
Cerdan became a popular figure of the Paris scene.
Although married with three children, he had an
affair with the famous singer Edith Piaf, a legend
on her own.

For his first defense, Cerdan returned to the
States, where he fought Jake LaMotta in Detroit.
Cerdan was knocked down in round one and his
shoulder was dislocated, having to surrender after
the tenth round. It would sadly be the last fight
of Cerdan's life: A contract was signed for a
rematch and Cerdan went to training camp for it,
but while flying to the United States to fight the
rematch, Cerdan's Air France flight, flown on a
SuperConstellation, went down in the Azores and
everybody in it died including the famous
violinist Ginette Neveu (1919-1949). Days later,
LaMotta expressed words of condolences, praising
Cerdan as a human being. 

LaMotta later shocked the sports world by
declaring during a hearing with the FBI, that in
order to get a chance at Cerdan's title, he had to
throw a fight for the mafia to make a big monetary
hit on the betting lines, when he was asked by
mafia associates to throw his fight versus Billy
Fox.

Their fight was one of a handful of fights
depicted on LaMotta's biographical movie Raging
Bull in 1980.

In 1983, Cerdan and Piaf had their own lives
turned into a big screen biography. The movie,
titled Edith and Marcel starred Marcel Cerdan Jr.
in the role of his father.

Cerdan's record was 106 wins and 4 losses, with 61
wins by knockout.

He is a member, along with LaMotta and Zale, of
the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.

Following his death on October 27, 1949, Marcel
Cerdan was interred in the Cimetière du Sud,
Perpignan, Languedoc-Roussillon, France.