James Walter Braddock was born on June 7, 1905, in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood — the son of Irish immigrants, one of seven children in a cramped apartment a few blocks from Madison Square Garden. He had dreams of playing college football at Notre Dame, but that dream was dashed when coach Knute Rockne passed on him — a disappointment that might have finished a lesser man. Instead, Braddock turned to boxing.
After three years as a professional, his record stood at 44–2–2, with 21 knockouts. He was on a clear path to the title. Then, in a single night, it all unravelled.
On July 18th, 1929, Braddock entered the ring at Yankee Stadium to face Tommy Loughran for the light heavyweight championship. Loughran had studied Braddock's powerful right hand and spent the match dodging it. Braddock never landed a clean punch and lost the 15-round bout.
Two months later, the stock market crashed.
As the banks went under, Braddock — like millions of other Americans — lost everything. He lost sixteen of his next twenty-two fights, shattering his right hand in the process.
Rendered effectively unemployable as a fighter, Braddock moved his wife and three children into a cramped basement in New Jersey. He worked the docks, cleaned people's basements, shovelled driveways, and swept floors. He owed everyone from his landlord to his milkman and could only afford bread and potatoes.
In the winter of 1934, he couldn't pay rent or the milkman. When his electricity was cut off, a loyal friend lent him $35 to get his affairs in order. Braddock got current — and was immediately broke again. He swallowed his pride and applied for government relief.
In 1934, due to a last-minute cancellation, Braddock was given the opportunity to fight John "Corn" Griffin on the undercard of that evening's heavyweight championship bout. He was meant to be a soft warm-up act — a name, not a threat.
To the amazement of everyone, he knocked Griffin out in the third round.
Nobody could explain it. So they gave him another fight. He won again. Then another. He won that too. Working on the docks had inadvertently built his punching power and physical toughness. The man who had been swinging freight for $4 a day was now swinging fists — and winning.
After defeating heavyweight contender Art Lasky — breaking his nose in the process — Braddock was offered a title fight against world heavyweight champion Max Baer. Baer's handlers had hand-picked Braddock, seeing him as an easy payday for their man. Baer barely trained.
Braddock, on the other hand, arrived at Madison Square Garden fuelled by something deeper than ambition. He said of the fight: "Whether it goes one round or three rounds or ten rounds, it will be 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."
On June 13, 1935, Braddock absorbed a powerful parade of punches from the younger, stronger champion — but his iron chin never wavered. Eventually, Baer grew tired. To the shock of the 30,000 spectators at Madison Square Garden, Braddock won 12 of 15 rounds and became heavyweight champion of the world by unanimous decision.
A 10-to-1 underdog. A dockworker. A man on government relief. World champion.
The story didn't end in the ring. After winning the title, Braddock bought a house for his family — and paid back every dollar of the $367 in government relief money he had received. It was a remarkable gesture that cemented his popularity during his reign as champion.
For the rest of his life, Braddock remembered the anxiety and shame of having to accept welfare. His empathy led him to continue supporting the Catholic Workers Organisations who had helped him during his darkest days.
Sportswriter Damon Runyon gave him a nickname that stuck: The Cinderella Man.
After losing his title to Joe Louis in 1937 — with Louis later calling Braddock "the most courageous man I ever fought" — Braddock retired, and he and Mae used his boxing income to buy a home where they spent the rest of their lives together.
He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001, and James J. Braddock North Hudson Park in New Jersey is named in his honour. In 2005, Ron Howard brought his story to the screen with Russell Crowe in the title role of Cinderella Man.
But no film could quite capture the full weight of it: a man who started with nothing, lost even that, and still found a way to go the distance.