Editing Marcel Cerdan (section)

==Boxing career==
[[File:Marcel Cerdan 1969 Ajman stamp.jpg|thumb|Marcel Cerdan on a 1969 Ajman stamp]]
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.

[[File:Cerdan Turiello juin 1939.jpg|thumb|right|alt=|Marcel Cerdan (right) in front of [[Saverio Turiello]] (left)]]

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 [[José Ferrer|Hollywood star]]). He knocked out Ferrer in one round,<ref>{{YouTube|Ok668rOv_4c|Marcel Cerdan vs José Ferrer in 1942}}</ref> 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 [[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 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/middle.htm|title=The Lineal Middleweight Champions|publisher=The Cyber Boxing Zone Encyclopedia}}</ref> Cerdan became a world champion by knocking Zale out in the 12th round in Roosevelt Stadium, [[Jersey City]], [[New Jersey]] on 21 September 1948.