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HISTORY: On December 6, 1946 at Madison Square Garden in New York future world middleweight champion Marcel Cerdan fought Georgie Abrams in the main event. Cerdan won a unanimous ten round decision. "Marcel Cerdan, the European middleweight champion, made his American bow a successful one tonight by punching out a close decision over Georgie Abrams in a bloody, rip-snorting 10 round brawl in MSG. Cerdan had to put on a wild, slugging finish to win out by a narrow margin only after Abrams, catching up from a slow start, took command through the middle heats. The decision was greeted with mingled boos and cheers by the near sell-out crowd when it was announced." -Associated Press. Whitney Martin of the Associated Press said that "Cerdan swarmed into Abrams with both hands flying, pressing the fight, taking the returns without flinching. He worked on the body, then would switch to long looping blows to the head. Abrams, backing away from this furious assault, left himself a more or less open target...and took a good battering in the first three rounds. In Georgie's corner, between rounds, (his manager, Chris) Dundee berated, pleaded, and coaxed. No backing up now, not a step. Georgie finally tried it, and he fared much better, although it is not easy to keep moving forward in the face of a swirl of blows. He began to even things up, a ripping right uppercut puzzling Cerdan no little. It became a gory affair. Cerdan won the unanimous decision, although it was hair-line. We thought that he earned it, although there wouldn't have been too much squawk at a draw." The NY Times and NY Post both claimed Cerdan won by a wide margin, the former stating that Referee Ruby Goldstein's 6-2-2 tally was the most accurate of the three scorecards. The latter scored for Cerdan by a 7-3 tally. Abrams was down from a left hook in the 9th round. Cerdan lost the 4th round due to landing low blows. Abrams was cut on the corner of his right eye in the 2nd round. Cerdan was cut beneath his left eye in the 6th. Both cuts required stitches.
Offered here is a rare, original, official program for this event.
FULL DESCRIPTION: This is an original, official program which consists of 48 pages complete plus 4 page insert. Tight binding. Clean inside and out. Mild center fold. No tears. Not scored or written on. Tight binding with loose insert. 8 1/2" x 11." Rare, the first we have offered.
