Petit Marcel and la Grande Mystique

Marcel Cerdan Jr. was no higher than a ring post when his father became the middleweight champion of the world. Marcel Sr. died shortly thereafter but for the son the legacy lives on: "It is my duty to try to succeed my father." He is certain of this, he says, for on the eve of a fight his father often visits him in his dreams, urging him on. "It is in the stars," says his manager, Philippe Filippi. "Old Marcel is up there watching me, and I know he's happy about what I am doing for his boy."

The memory of Marcel Cerdan Sr. is no less vivid to millions of Frenchmen. A veteran of the Free French navy, the handsome brawler fought his way out of Casablanca to become "l'Immortel." In September 1948, he knocked out Tony Zale in the twelfth round to win the middleweight title. He lost the crown to Jake LaMotta nine months later when he tore a left shoulder muscle in the first round, then gamely fought on virtually one-handed until he was unable to answer the bell for the tenth round. Scheduled for a rematch with LaMotta, the superstitious Cerdan consulted a fortuneteller, had Marcel Jr. spit in his hand, donned his lucky blue suit and boarded a plane for the U.S. in October 1949. "I win the title back," he said, "or I die." The Air France flight crashed in the Azores, and Cerdan was dead at 33.

Personal Force. At 15, petit Marcel climbed into his father's old sweatsuit and began training under the paternal eye of Filippi. At 16, he made his Paris debut in a three-rounder that was billed as the rebirth of French boxing. Pale and visibly trembling, the teenager won a narrow decision over an unknown Algerian, returned to his dressing room and fainted. After turning pro at 21, Marcel Jr. fought 47 bouts against carefully chosen opponents over the next five years, winning 46 and drawing one to become the world's tenth-ranked welterweight. Earlier this year, Filippi decided that "we are ready now to make our move. America--that is the beginning of the dream."

After a visit to the Paris grave of famed Chanteuse Edith Piaf, his father's mistress, petit Marcel finally arrived at Manhattan's Madison Square Garden last week for his first fight in the U.S. As always, he carried with him cherished mementos of his father: the taped water bottle he always used in the ring, the watch he was wearing when he died, the bloodstained trunks he wore when he dethroned Zale. Whenever anyone mentioned his quest for the championship, petit Marcel spoke the few words of English he had mastered: "It is my destinee" Shortly before the fight, he listened to a recording of a soul-searing ballad by "Aunt Zizi" (Piaf), not because he is superstitious, he said, but because "it is a personal force." Then he put on his father's old leather supporter and the blue trunks with a Ste. Therese medal (a gift from Aunt Zizi) sewn inside, and he was ready.

Canada's Donato Paduano, the ninth-ranked welterweight, was more realistic about his ten-round bout with Marcel Jr. "I am fighting the son, not the father." That was immediately apparent at the opening bell. Slighter and speedier than his father, Marcel Jr. showed himself to be a crisp, stylish counterpuncher. Busily bobbing under Paduano's strong jabs, he repeatedly beat the Canadian to the punch in the early rounds. Paduano and the crowd of 10,767 soon realized, though, that the son had none of the raw, put-away power of the father. Though slowed by a deep gash over his left eye, Paduano waded through Marcel Jr.'s light attack and rocked him with solid left-right combinations throughout the late rounds. Petit Marcel, a 7-to-5 underdog, fought back courageously, but Paduano only came on stronger to win by a unanimous decision.

In his dressing room afterward, petit Marcel was philosophic. "To be champion," he told the press, "one does not have to win every fight." Then, clutching an unopened bottle of champagne, he stood up and asked through a translator: "Overall, what did you think of me?" The reporters politely applauded. In Paris, where the fight was televised via satellite, the verdict was harsher --and truer. Headlined France-Soir: THE END OF A DREAM: CERDAN WON'T BE ABLE TO BECOME WORLD CHAMPION.

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