Boxing in The 1940s - 1949

1949

• February 11- Willie Pep recovers the world Featherweight title, beating Sandy Saddler by a fifteen round unanimous decision, in the second of their four bout rivalry, at New York.
• February 28- future world champions Ezzard Charles and Joey Maxim meet at Cincinnati, with Charles winning a ten round majority decision.
• March 1- Joe Louis announces his retirement, leaving the world Heavyweigh title vacant after 11 years, six months, and a world record 25 defenses as world champion.
• March 1- Manuel Ortiz retains his world Bantamweight title with a fifteen round unanimous decision over Dado Marino for his eighteenth title defense, a division record, in their Honolulu rematch.
• June 16- Jake LaMotta wins the world Middleweight championship, knocking out Marcel Cerdan in ten rounds, at Detroit.
• June 21- Ezzard Charles wins the vacant world Heavyweight title, defeating Jersey Joe Walcott, by a fifteen round unanimous decision, in Chicago.
• July 11- Sugar Ray Robinson retains the world Welterweight title with a fifteen round unanimous decision over future world champion Kid Gavilan, in Philadelphia.
• August 10- Ezzard Charles retains his world Heavyweight title, knocking out world Light-Heavyweight champion Gus Lesvenich in round eight, at New York.
• October 27- Marcel Cerdan dies when his plane, an Air France Constellation, crashes over the Azores when he was returning to the United States for a rematch with Jake LaMotta.
• December 6- Sandy Saddler wins the vacant world Jr. Lightweight title, defeating Orlando Zulueta by a fifteen round decision in the last title fight of the decade, held at Cleveland.