I think that Braddock is underrated. He did have a lot of losses, many of which were due to injuries. He earned a shot at the title by beating three top ten contenders, and then decisioned the champ, Baer. He decked a prime Joe Louis, then beat another contender, Farr. Not too shabby.
Yes. But you can be the target of much chastisement around these parts for having such beliefs. Tread lightly.
Very underrated. The only time he is mentioned on here is when Joe Louis detractors say "he got knocked down by Jimmy Braddock" in an attempt to portray Louis as chinny.
He looked "ok" against a woeful Baer but then anybody can look good if the other guy isn't throwing back. If you examine his record, his 42 wins are largely against fighters with little experience (6 debut fighters) and a bunch of stiffs with losing records. He actually lost to guys with losing records himself. On the other hand he did beat Baer, Farr and some other guys with useful-looking resumes so he couldn't have been all bad. On the limited footage that I've seen of him and his record he seems like a decent fighter that blew hot and cold, but probably nothing to write home about.
I am actually more impressed by his losing effort against Louis. Yes he got splattered, but he gave Louis a better fight than Carnera, Baer, and even Schmeling second time round. Louis gave him a good write up among his opponents.
It is clear that hand problems contributed to a lot of his losses, so he is probably at least better than his paper record suggests. So what are his key wins, apart from of course Baer? His best win of his first career, was his stoppage win over Jimmy Slatterey. Slatterey's only loss in the past 27 fights, had been a split decision loss against Tommy Loughran. This set him up for his title fight with Loughran, and things seem to have gone west from there. I give him a lot of credit for his win over John Henry Lewis, because his personal circumstances were not good before the fight. On contemporary observer even described him as "half starved"! Art Lasky was a solid heavyweight contender when Braddock beat him, and in the mix to be the next title challenger. Most observers seem to think that Farr deserved the decision over Braddock. I do not consider him to have been lucky to get either of is his title shot's. He earned them both, ahead of some more talented fighters.
No. He was a good fighter, a top ten contender, who was at the right place, at the right time, against the right guy, made the most of the opportunity and became Champ.
