Marcel Cerdan, Jr. was the son of former Middleweight Boxing Champion Marcel Cerdan, Sr. who was killed in an airplane crash on October 27, 1949. Young Marcel lived with his father's legend shadowing him and he decided to follow in his father's footsteps. After a brief amateur boxing career, he turned professional on 21 January 1965, knocking out Antonio Zuniga in 1 round in Neuilly, France. Fighting in such cities as Paris, Tarbes, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Lille, and Evreaux he knocked out such fighters as Mac Drevet KO 5, Andre Leguy KO 6, Claude Malezieux KO 1, Robert DiMartino KO3, and Jaime Aparici KO 2. Over the next few years he was undefeated in almost 50 straight fights. His impressive record earned him a bout in New York City's Madison Square Garden, but his U.S. debut ended in a bitter defeat. Cerdan continued to fight for a few more years, but a loss to Canada's Clyde Gray ended his days as a title contender.