[Jack Robby]

THE SCENARIO—Marcel Cerdan was the European welterweight champion at the outbreak of World War II. He enlisted in the French Navy once war broke out, but when Paris fell to the Nazis, he returned to boxing in occupied France. When he knocked out the Spanish middleweight champion Jose Ferrer in Paris on September 30, 1942, the German’s were angered. Cerdan wisely got his papers together and escaped to unoccupied France, specifically Algeria. There he continued to box for the duration of the war.

In this scenario, Cerdan is encouraged by DeGaulle and the Free French to travel to the United States to take on the world’s top middleweights and present a fighting French face to the American people. His first bout is in New York City on January 17, 1944, against Coley Welch, a talented middleweight from Portland, Maine, who hasn’t lost a fight in two years.

THE FIGHT--Coley Welch looks a little soft, as if he had undertrained. Cerdan rushes out at the opening bell and floors Welch with a hard right just under the ribcage. Welch gets up at the count of six, but is wobbly. Cerdan presses Welch against the ropes, but Coley tries to hold on. Cerdan staggers Welsh with a hard left hook, then follows up with a crushing right. Welch sways and rolls under the barrage of punches but somehow manages to last the round.

Cerdan stalks Welch at the start of round two. A terrific uppercut to the jaw has Coley in trouble again. Cerdan keeps pressing his advantage while Welch remains on the defensive. Welch tries to stay at long range in the third, but Cerdan keeps moving inside. A hard left hook to the midsection forces Welch to bend over and Cerdan again drives him into the ropes. A right cross gets through Welch’s defenses, but he again manages to protect himself through the end of the round.

Welch gets off to a quicker start in round four, stopping Cerdan in his tracks with a sharp jab to the mouth. Cerdan continues to stalk his man, but a sharp combination of punches to the head opens a cut over Cerdan’s right eye. The cut doesn’t slow down Marcel’s pursuit, but clearly it is Welch’s best round so far in the fight.

Welch continues trying to box at long range in the fifth while Cerdan keeps bulling his way inside. A hard right cross by Cerdan hurts Welch, and Marcel follows up with a good left uppercut to the chin inside. Welch tries to jab Cerdan away but to no avail, as Marcel pounds the body at close range. Action slows down in the sixth as Cerdan is warned for using his elbows when he finally does get in close.

In the seventh, Welch begins to outbox Cerdan at long range and even hurts him with a hard left hook. The cut over Cerdan’s right eye has been bleeding ever since the fourth round. Early in round eight, Cerdan snaps Welch’s head back with a terrific left hook. Welch’s legs turn to jelly. Marcel tries to follow up and rights a left-right-left combination to the head. Welch appears to be on the verge of going down when Cerdan suddenly stops and allows a mutual clinch, perhaps indicating that he is tiring from the terrific pace he’s set so far in the fight.

Early in round nine, Cerdan lands a devastating right cross that has Welch’s eyes rolling back in his head. Incredibly, Coley stays on his feet. Although Welch looks exhausted, he actually outfights Cerdan as the Frenchman tries to follow up with wild swings. Welch comes out for the tenth and final round knowing that he is behind. He stung Cerdan with a hard right, but then a right uppercut inside by Marcel dropped Welch like a sack of potatoes.

Somehow the exhausted Welch manages to pull himself to his feet at the count of 8. Cerdan chases Welch to the ropes, raining lefts and rights on his head but to no avail. Apparently Cerdan is tiring as well, for his blows don’t seem to be hurting Welch. Near the end of the round, Welch gamely tries to fight back but at the final bell, the crowd is cheering for Cerdan as the apparent victory, while giving Welch credit for a game performance.

The final decision is not in doubt, the referee and one judge scoring it 7-3 and the other judge making it 8-2, all for Marcel Cerdan.

THE AFTERMATH—Cerdan’s successful American debut (which predates his historic debut here by nearly three years) puts him in the thick of the title mix. The American public has mixed emotions about him, their fondness for the brave Free French forces continuing to struggle against Hitler balanced against their wondering why this skillful young French athlete isn’t back home struggling with them. In any event, the consensus is that he’s a fight or two away from a title shot at least.