Hall of Fame Professional Boxer. He was the Middleweight Boxing Champion from 1948 to 1949. One of history's greatest Middleweights, the "Casablanca Clouter" was one of three fighting Cerdan sons. He turned pro at age 18 in 1934. With the exception of two losses by disqualification, he never saw an opponent's hand raised in victory until May 23, 1948, his 105th bout, in a narrow 15- round decision-loss to Cyrille Delannoit, which he avenged two months later. He ran his unbeaten streak as a professional to 46-0, until he was disqualified in the fifth round against Englishman Harry Craster on January 9, 1939. in London. Four bouts and six weeks later, Cerdan beat his first world-ranked opponent, Saverio Turiello, in a welterweight contest in Paris. Then he beat Turiello again, this time for the European Welterweight Crown in June. With the outbreak of World War II and the early fall of France, Cerdan didn't resume his career until 1941 in North Africa. By the end of the year, he was back fighting on the mainland, which was occupied by Germany. A disqualification loss to Victor Buttin, who he later knocked out, is the only blemish in his 28 fights from 1941-44. He continued his winning ways through the next two years, including wins over world-ranked middleweights Holman Williams in Paris, and an impressive 10-round decision win over Georgie Abrams in his New York debut. In 1947, he won the vacant European middleweight title and, with the exception of the points loss to Delannoit, cruised toward his title shot with world champion Tony Zale. On Sept. 21, 1948, in Jersey City, New Jersey, the 33-year-old challenger dominated the "Man of Steel" and scored a 12th round TKO for world honors. After two non-title wins in 1949, he lost the crown on June 16 to fellow Hall-of-Famer Jake LaMotta, in a 10th round TKO. Cerdan, who injured his shoulder when the two fell to the canvas during a first-round scuffle, fought one-armed, until he retired in his corner after the 10th. En route to America for the rematch later that fall, he was killed when his plane crashed. In his outstanding career, he had lost just four of 110 contests (two were by foul) with 61 KO's. In 1991, 52 years after his death, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.