DEPRESSION ERA CHAMPBy the early 1930’s Braddock was a has-been. He had been a promising light-heavyweight contender in the 1920’s, but lost his only title shot, a decision to Tommy Loughran, in 1929. This precipitated a skid in which Braddock lost five times in six fights, but he had earned a fair share of purses and had invested for his future.
Like many of his countrymen, Braddock’s nest egg was wiped out by the Wall Street Crash of 1929. He continued to box, but a series of hand injuries hampered his effectiveness in the ring.
“He couldn’t beat anybody,” said Jeremy Schapp, author of the book on Braddock titled Cinderella Man: James J.Braddock, Max Baer, and the Greatest Upset in Boxing History).
He was reduced to fighting for peanuts in backwater venues, and by the time Braddock hung up his gloves and retired from the sport in despair he had won just four of his last eleven fights.
He managed to get longshoremen’s papers and went to work on the Jersey docks, but even there jobs were scarce. More often than not, he would arise early and trudge to the docks, only to return empty handed. With a wife and three children to feed, he increasingly despaired for his family.
Late in 1933 he put his pride aside and applied for a place on the county welfare rolls. At one point he and his wife, Mae, even had to farm their children out to their grandparents because he could no longer care for them.
During this dark period at least two remarkable things occurred. One was that time away from the ring gave his hands a chance to heal. The other was that his stint on the docks transformed Braddock from a 175 pounder into a much stronger, well muscled heavyweight.
Braddock had given no thought to a comeback, and hadn’t been near a gym in months, when his loyal friend and ever scuffling manager, Joe Gould, crossed the Hudson bearing news of an offer to fight again. Primo Carnera was scheduled to defend his title against Max Baer at the Madison Square Garden Bowl in Queens two nights later, and an up-and-coming heavyweight named Corn Griffin, whom the boxing powers hoped to groom for the big time, was slated to perform of the undercard, but his scheduled foe had fallen out.
Garden matchmaker Jimmy Johnston needed an Opponent - with a capital “O” - for Griffin, and Braddock could earn $250 for serving as canon fodder. Because he needed the money - Gould had wangled a $100 advance, which he split with Braddock, out of Johnston - he agreed.
On June 14, 1934, Braddock knocked out Griffin in three rounds.
Three fights and 364 days later James J. Braddock was the heavyweight champion of the world - “At a time when the heavyweight champion was, inarguably, the biggest man in sports,” noted Schapp.
Schapp reckons that Braddock’s “Cinderella” (It was Damon Runyon who bestowed the moniker on Braddock) tale lapsed into obscurity for at least two reasons: The first was that Braddock’s immediate heir was Joe Louis, whose own legend grew to such proportions that it quickly obscured that of his predecessor. And the other is that Braddock’s accomplishments took place in the bleakest period of 20th-century America: Once it was over, Americans wanted to put the Great Depression, and everything connected with it, behind them.
“But to me the ‘20’s and 30’s were a fascinating era for boxing,” said Schapp. “Far more interesting than the ‘40’s or ‘50’s or ‘60’s. The NFL was still in its infancy; the NBA didn’t exist. Baseball and horse racing were the only other games in town. Boxing champions were celebrities, and the heavyweight champion was the biggest celebrity of all.”
- George Kimball with Jeremy Schapp
