Emile Chemama

Name: Emile Chemama
Alias: Star of the South
Hometown: Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
Birthplace: Bone, Algeria
Died: 1956-03-31 (Age:30)
Pro Boxer: Record

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Emile Chemama was of Jewish heritage per the Hank Kaplan Archives. He was ranked as high as the #3 bantamweight in the world by The Ring magazine between 1951 and 1956. He was ranked in The Ring's monthly top ten rankings for a period of thirty four months during that 1951-to 1956 period! Clearly Chemama was a world class fighter during his career.

Chemama died tragically in a car accident after having won the French National Bantamweight Title on March 29th, 1956 in a fight with Dante Bini. This was the second time that Chemama had won the French Bantamweight Title, He initially held the title from 1950 to 1952. His manager Bruno Solinas died a few days later from injuries sustained in the same crash. Boyhood friend of fellow fighter and future bantamweight world champion Robert Cohen. Some of his notable victories were over World Featherweight Champion Hogan "Kid" Bassey in March of 1953 by TKO in the the fifth rd., French Flyweight, Bantamweight and European Bantamweight Champion, Theo Medina. Italian Bantamweight Champion Gianni Zuddas, Belgian Bantamweight and European Champion Pierre Cossemyns, British Commonwealth Bantamweight Champion Peter Keenan, Spanish and European Flyweight Champion Young Martin, and Belgian Bantamweight Champion Jean Renard just to name a few of the many fine fighters Chemama fought in his career.