Does Braddock demonstrate impressive boxing skills in this highlight video?

He throws a good right cross after a left hook. He kinda reminds me a little bit of Carl Froch.

What these reels do not portray is a man's reflexes of howbhe reads oncoming punches.

Great videos by Reznick nonetheless.

 

I think you should really have included a third option in between for people who think he had ok or decent skills but nothing special, which I believe is the opinion most here (including me) agree with.

As it stands, I voted for no.
If for the sake of this thread we define skill as having correct technique and applying it with a good sense of timing and precision, having a good tactical mind and sense for the ebb and flow of the action and exclude everything that has to do with purely physical abilities such as chin, "natural" punching power and reflexes, as well as mental toughness from that definition, I think Braddock ranks in the middle to lower echelons among name fighters.
If we apply the 1 to 10 scale mentioned before in this thread, where 10 is ,say ,SRR level and 1 is Firpo, I would rank him at around 4 or maybe 5 at the highest.

Judging from the video I would say he is best at infighting, where he displays above average skill. On the outside, he shows a decent jab at times and a good hard overhand right that looks heavy with considerable follow-through impact.
His footwork is barely average and slightly clumsy. His worst attribute would be his tendency to swing rather wildly on the outside with his elbows much too far from his sides which often leaves him vulnerable and off-balance. Can't say much about his defensive skills from the video but what is shown is a bit subpar.

Outside of the skills department, he has a pretty impeccable chin and is rugged and tough.

All in all, he's ok but nothing too special; "decent" and "workmanlike" are the adjectives I would most readily apply to his boxing. Trying to make him into some newly discovered genius or describing him as a no-skills bum is both equally ridiculous IMO.

My two cents. Cheers!

 

Agreed

 

As manos de mierda said, workmanlike is the best adjective to describe him. He's neither shockingly terrible nor noteworthy in any way. His jab is consistently thrown, but it's also slow and kind of sloppy. Very little snap. His attempts to double it up are poor. His speed bag work looks stiff and lacking in rhythm.

His footwork looks pretty crude to me when not moving forward in straight lines. A couple of times he loses his footing, which affects his balance and ability to throw grounded shots. While I don't agree with some posters that he arm-punches, he doesn't seem to get much leg drive into his shots either; everything seems swung from the upper body while barrelling forward into his opponent's wheelhouse with his head down. Lots of wind up and lunging too, which better boxers would be able to read and capitalise on.

It's hard to gauge his defence from that video, but it doesn't look brilliant.

In terms of fighters from that era I'd put him around mid-tier, above the likes of wild swingers like Max Baer and Tony Galento but below Louis, Conn and co. I don't think much of the era though, so that would have to be adjusted when rating him historically.

 

Good post. He certainly looks more polished than Baer in this clip, comfortably.

 

Decent but nothing special, Schmeling would have likely dominated unfortunately he never got a shot.

 

Move over young Mike Tyson.... James J Braddock Is in town!!!

 

Thanks!

 

Oh no, Braddock doesn’t have boxing skills. This poll just made it super duper official.

 

JJB was a champion and had very good skills I would say he had good skills, toughness,experience and hunger

 

Offense looked fine to me...defense looked terrible though as I believe many fighters 30s prior did. Looked better offensively fighting inside but I admit to only seeing two Braddock fights.

 

He knew how to get his overhand right home for sure. I voted for yes, was he sleek as silk absolutely not but I didn’t think he looked much less polished than most from his Era and even better than many. Cool Video Rez!!!