![]() ![]() “Whether it goes 1 round or 3 rounds or 10 rounds, it will be a fight and a fight all the way… When you’ve been through what I’ve had to face in the last two years, a Max Baer or a Bengal tiger looks like a house pet. ![]() Not a boxing contest or a clownin’ contest or a dance,” he said. Braddock, on the other hand, was training hard. After defeating another highly regarded heavyweight contender, Art Lasky, whose nose he broke during the bout on March 22, 1935, Braddock was given a title fight against the World Heavyweight Champion, Max Baer. He won in one of the most important fights of his career. Braddock then fought John Henry Lewis, a future light heavyweight champion. Although Braddock was intended simply as a stepping stone in Griffin’s career, he knocked out the “Ozark Cyclone” in the third round. In 1934, Braddock was given a fight with the highly touted John “Corn” Griffin. After his boxing comeback, Braddock returned the welfare money he had received and made frequent donations to various Catholic Worker Houses, including feeding homeless guests with his family. He always remembered the humiliation of having to accept government relief money, but was inspired by the Catholic Worker Movement, a Christian social justice organization founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933 to help the homeless and hungry. Due to frequent injuries to his right hand, Braddock compensated by using his left hand during his longshoreman work, and it gradually became stronger than his right. ![]() With his family in poverty during the Great Depression, Braddock had to give up boxing for a little while and worked as a longshoreman. His record for the next 33 fights fell to 11-20-2. His career suffered as a result, as did his disposition. Braddock was greatly depressed by the loss and badly fractured his right hand in several places in the process. The following year he earned a chance to fight for the title, but he narrowly lost to Tommy Loughran in a 15-round decision. In 1928, he pulled off a major upset by knocking out highly regarded Tuffy Griffiths. After three years, Braddock’s record was 44-2-2 with 21 knockouts. He stated his life’s early ambition was to play football for Knute Rockne at the University of Notre Dame, but he had “more brawn than brains.” Careerīraddock pursued boxing, turning pro at the age of 21, fighting as a light heavyweight. He was the son of Irish-American parents Elizabeth (née O’Tool) and Joseph Braddock. Early lifeīraddock was born in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City on West 48th Street, within a couple of blocks of the Madison Square Garden venue, where he later became famous. For this unlikely feat he was given the nickname “Cinderella Man” by Damon Runyon. In 1935 he fought Max Baer for the Heavyweight title and won. He had lost several bouts due to chronic hand injuries and was forced to work on the docks and collect social assistance to feed his family during the Great Depression. ![]() Jeffries), he was known for his powerful right hand, solid chin and comeback from a floundering career. Braddock (ostensibly to follow the pattern set by two prior world boxing champions, James J. James Walter “Cinderella Man” Braddock (J– November 29, 1974) was an American boxer who was the world heavyweight champion from 1935 to 1937.įighting under the name James J. ![]()
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