Robert Villemain

Robert Villemain
Data
Birth Name	Robert Villemain
Weight class	medium weight
nationality	French
birthday	January 10, 1924
place of birth	Paris
Date of death	4th September 1984
Place of death	Montfermeil
style	Left delivery
size	1.66 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	63
Victories	52
Knockout victories	14th
Defeats	7th
draw	4th

Robert Villemain (born January 10, 1924 in Paris , † September 4, 1984 in Montfermeil ) was a French boxer . He was European champion of professional welterweight boxers.

Career

After a short amateur period, Robert Villemain became a professional boxer in 1944. He completed his first fight on December 28, 1944 in Paris and won against Amer Jaafar by knockout in the second round. He then won 33 fights in a row before he fought against the British Mark Hart on May 31, 1948 in London in a draw. Before he won his first title, he defeated the Belgians Felix Wouters (on February 20, 1946 in Paris) and Cyrille Delannoit (on April 11, 1946 in Antwerp ), two top European boxers of rank. Robert Villemain, who was only 1.66 m tall and of stocky build, was soon nicknamed the "French Bulldog".

On October 14, 1946, Robert Villemain was French welterweight champion in Paris by winning points over twelve rounds over Omar Kouidri. He defended this title on January 8, 1947 in Paris by winning points over Jean Walzack . In his next fight he was then on February 1, 1947 in Paris European welterweight champion by technical knockout in the ninth round over the Briton Ernie Roderick . Robert Villemain defended this title three times in 1947 by defeating his compatriots Kid Marcel , Egisto Peyre and Omar Kouidri.

On 27 October 1947, on 14th May 1948 Robert Villemain celebrated each in Paris point victory over Laurent Dauthuille , who was considered a major French promising young middleweight. In October 1948, Robert Villemain put down both of his titles because he could no longer bring the welterweight limit. He went to the United States in January 1949 and went out of his way to get a fight for the world middleweight championship.

His debut in the United States did not go according to plan. In his first fight in New York he lost on January 7, 1949 against Steve Belloise, who was not one of the world's best, on points. He then accepted on March 25, 1949 the world number one Jake LaMotta as an opponent. The fight against LaMotta at Madison Square Garden in New York was pretty even. Two judges gave the victory to LaMotta, one had counted for Villemain. The viewers did not agree with the judgment point winner Jake LaMotta and celebrated Robert Villemain as the “moral” winner.

On December 9, 1949, the rematch Villemain against the reigning world middleweight champion LaMotta, who had meanwhile won this title on June 16, 1949 from Marcel Cerdan , took place in New York and this time Robert Villemain was the unanimous point winner. Since this fight was not about the world title, Jake LaMotta remained world champion . After a victory over the Cuban-born Kid Gavilán , a future welterweight champion, on March 20, 1950 in Montreal , Robert Villemain was allowed to determine the official challenger for world champion Jake LaMotta in two fights against the reigning welterweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson .

The first of these fights took place on June 5, 1950 in Philadelphia . The super technician Robinson proved superior to the fighter Villemain and won unanimously on points. Robinson was also stronger in the rematch on December 22, 1950 in Paris. In this fight Robinson even won by technical knockout in the ninth round over the defenseless Villemain. Jake LaMotta's challenger was therefore Sugar Ray Robinson.

After these fights, Robert Villemain boxed a lot in the United States because he was very popular with the spectators there because of his fighter heart. He also won most of the fights that he played or at least fought in a draw against good, but not necessarily so good opponents that could make him interesting again for a world championship fight. On July 12, 1952, however, another great opportunity presented itself to him. He boxed in San Francisco against the Hawaiian of Swedish-Portuguese descent Carl Olsson , who was considered the coming middleweight man and later also became world champion. In this fight, which lasted ten rounds, the judges were again divided on their scores. Two gave Olsson the win, one decided on Robert Villemain.

Since Robert Villemain then saw no chance to become world middleweight champion, he ended his boxer career. After Marcel Cerdan, he was the second French middleweight after the Second World War to win respect and recognition in the United States, even if he did not succeed in becoming world champion.

swell

• Box Sport magazine
• Website www.boxrec.com

Web links

• Robert Villemain in the BoxRec database
• Photo by Robert Villemain