lamotta won the world middleweight title on june 16, 1949 in detroit, michigan, defeating frenchman marcel cerdan. lamotta won the first round (in which he knocked cerdan down), cerdan the second, and the third was even. at that point it became clear something was wrong. cerdan dislocated his arm in the first round, apparently damaged in the knockdown, and gave up before the start of the 10th round. lamotta damaged his left hand in the fifth round, but still landed 104 punches in the ninth round, whereas cerdan hardly threw a punch. the official score had lamotta as winner by a knockout in 10 rounds because the bell had already rung to begin that round when cerdan announced he was quitting. a rematch was arranged, but while cerdan was flying back to the united states to fight the rematch, his air france lockheed constellation crashed in the azores, killing everyone on board.