Marcellin "Marcel" Cerdan (French pronunciation: [maʁsɛl sɛʁdɑ̃]; 22 July 1916 – 28 October 1949) was a French professional boxer and world middleweight champion in 1948-1949. He was considered by many boxing experts and fans to be France's greatest boxer, and beyond to be one of the best to have learned his craft in Africa. Nicknamed "the Moroccan bomber" or "the man with hands of clay", his talent led him to France in 1938 where he became French champion three times and then European champion in the welterweight category. His life was marked by his sporting achievements, social lifestyle and, ultimately, tragedy, being killed in an airplane crash.
Marcellin Cerdan was born at 9:00pm on 22 July 1916 in the "Little Paris" neighbourhood of Sidi Bel Abbès in Algeria. He was the fourth son of Antonio Cerdán, a day labourer, and Asunción Cascales, pied-noirs of Spanish origin, with roots in Alicante.
On October 28, 1949, at age 33, Marcel Cerdan was one of 48 victims that died when their scheduled Air France Flight 009 crashed into a mountain on approach to the Santa Maria Airport, Azores, Portugal to refuel. Cerdan was travelling from Paris to New York City prior to his boxing rematch with Jake LaMotta. Other victims of the crash included French violinist Ginette Neveu, artist Bernard Boutet de Monvel, and American Walt Disney Company merchandising executive Kay Kamen. The bodies of the victims were recovered and taken to a church in Algarvia before they were repatriated. Cerdan was initially interred in Casablanca, where he and his wife, Marinette Lopez, were married. At Marinette's request, for the matter of equidistance between herself and their eldest son living in Paris, Cerdan was reinterred in the Perpignan Sud cemetery in France on October 29, 1995.
Cerdan began boxing professionally on 4 November 1934 in Meknes, Morocco, beating Marcel Bucchianeri by a decision in six rounds. He then ran a streak of 47 wins in a row between that first bout and 4 January 1939, when he lost for the first time, to Harry Craster by a disqualification in five rounds in London. Cerdan campaigned heavily in the French territories of Algeria and Morocco during that part of his career, as well as in metropolitan France. In 1938, he beat Omar Kouidri in a 12-round decision at Casablanca to claim the French welterweight title.
After his first loss, Cerdan recorded five consecutive wins, which led him to challenge Saviello Turiello for Europe's welterweight title in Milan, Italy. He won the European title by a decision in 15 rounds 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, it is not considered as important).
Cerdan's winning streak eventually reached 23 bouts before he suffered a defeat to Victor Buttin by disqualification for a second time, in eight rounds in Algiers in 1942. They would later re-match in 1945, and Cerdan would avenge the defeat by knocking Buttin out in the third round.
For his next bout after the first fight with Buttin though, Cerdan put his title on the line against José Ferrer (namesake of the Hollywood star). He knocked out Ferrer in one round, and won four more bouts in a row before facing another boxer with a namesake: James Toney, who shared that name with another James Toney who would become world Middleweight champion five decades later. Cerdan knocked out Toney in two rounds to keep this new winning streak alive. The new streak would reach 37 wins. In between, he joined the 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 rounds. He later claimed the vacant European title by beating Léon Foquet by a knockout in one round. He retained that title a couple of times before losing it to rugged Belgian 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 in Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, New Jersey on 21 September 1948.
For his first defense, Cerdan returned to the United States to face Jake LaMotta for the belt on June 16, 1949 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. Cerdan was knocked down in round one, his shoulder was dislocated, and he had to give up after the tenth round. It would be the boxer's last fight. Although a rematch was scheduled for December 2, Cerdan died in a plane crash that October.
The day following Cerdan's death, LaMotta lauded Cerdan's sportsmanship, saying: "You had to fight him as I did to know what a fine sportsman he was." ... "If I had lost to Marcel in Detroit, I might have been flying to France to fight him there."
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 famed French singer Édith Piaf which lasted from summer 1948 until his death in autumn 1949. They were very devoted to each other and Piaf dedicated one of her most famous songs, Hymne à l'amour, to Cerdan.
Cerdan's record was 110 wins and 4 losses two of which were disqualifications for low blows, with 65 wins by knockout.
He is a member, along with LaMotta and Zale, of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
In 1983, Cerdan and Piaf had their lives turned into a big screen biography by Claude Lelouch. The film, Édith et Marcel, starred Marcel Cerdan Jr. in the role of his father and Évelyne Bouix as Piaf. He is portrayed by actor Jean-Pierre Martins in the 2007 Piaf biopic La Môme (entitled La Vie en Rose in English-speaking countries).
In 1991, a sports arena located in Levallois-Perret, the Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan, was named in his honor.
NYSAC middleweight champion (160 lbs)
NBA (WBA) middleweight champion (160 lbs)