Jimmy Braddock in the 1980's?

He wouldn't last long at all,the guy had around 25 losses in his own era,against the tall guys with technical abilitites of the 80's he would be in trouble.Holmes/****ey/Spinks/Tucker/Witherspoon/weaver/Dokes..etc..would eat him alive.

 

About as long as he would have reigned had he given Schmeling the shot he deserved.

 

What was Braddock about 6.2 under 200lbs very brave and steady but with very fragile hands I can see him winning some decent fights but losing to the best ( Holmes ) badly . I can't really get excited about Braddock for me anyway he was a steady methodical type fighter not exciting and not winning a heavyweight world title in another era .

 

When Braddock was well trained and managed as he was in the Max Baer fight he was good. And that was past the point when he should have been in prime. Unfortunately much of his youth was spent fighting injured, under nourished, mismanaged or over scheduled. With a good trainer, manager, proper preparation and a reasonable fight schedule, Braddock could have been both a good light heavyweight and heavyweight. He was very tough. Only stopped twice in his career, once to a prime Joe Louis who he stood his ground against and once due to a cut eye that he sustained in a bout two weeks earlier that reopened against Lou Scozza. He had decent boxing skills and was a reasonable 6'2" 194 lbs when he beat Baer. In all likelihood he'd probably be better off at cruiserweight in the 1980's and had he fought there he certainly could have beaten Carlos Deleon, Ossie Ocasio, Leon Spinks and a few others.. Dwight Qawi and Jim Braddock might have made a fun Cruiser battle. At heavyweight he wouldn't have been champion in the 80's.. But he certainly wouldn't have been any worse than some of the ranked contenders like Tex Cobb, James Tillis, or Renaldo Snipes.

 

I doubt he'd be anything but a fringe contender type. Maybe he'd crack the top ten, but I doubt he would stay there and beat another top ten rated opponent.

Holmes would have a field day. Spinks had too much skill. Tyson would finish him early.

Top contenders in ****ey, Witherspoon, and Coetzee were too big and hit too hard. Thomas, Dokes, and others too skilled and fast.

You can make a case he would be a smaller version of Randal Tex Cobb, capable of pulling off an upset say vs. an out of shape Greg Page.

 

Loses to Pinklon Thomas and then Blood Green and then Trevor Berbick and then Renaldo Snipes and then Razor Ruddock.

 

Interesting that you mention Snipes, Magoo. I can see Braddock replicating his knockdown of Holmes: all he did was double jab, right hand; so much for the technical abilities of the 80's fighters that someone mentioned earlier. He'd have been a decent contender is my best guess, who would give the best a tough fight like he did in his own era.

 

I don't know if I see him doing much against Holmes. I think Larry would have too much reach. Too good of a jab and movement. And Jimmy wouldn't have the power to bother Larry who in my eyes was one of the most durable heavys of all time.. That said I don't think he'd do as badly in the division as some think. Certainly under the right circumstances and with reasonable accommodations ( unlike the ones he had in the thirties ) he'd be a contender at heavyweight or a champion at cruiser weight.

 

I don't know...Snipes was only able to execute that sequence because he had thrown Holmes off with his unorthodox movement thoughout the past several rounds. Holmes was very frustrated at that point in the fight and made a dumb mistake by backing up like that. Haven't seen much Braddock but I don't see him getting to Holmes that way.

 

The Snipes knockdown wasn't much to excited about anyway. Renaldo caught him off guard. Holmes was down until about the count of four.. He got back up and went after Renaldo and finished the round strong. Outside of that brief incident, Snipes didn't really do much else to Holmes. C00ney, Shavers, Weaver, and Witherspoon all had better nights against Larry.

 

Well yes.. You don't have to be tall, strong, athletic, skilled, talented, or benefit from the training of advanced eras if you're "lineal." The term is basically another word for "divine" and should be treated as such..

 

Braddock was a good basic fighter. Nothing special. Just good. He was a textbook boxer with good skills, high guard chin down, his right hand was beautiful. Thrown either overhand or right down the pipe, it had some snap to it. Very accurate. He has a decent left jab. He was tall, long armed. Very durable.

He would break the top 10 in 80s, maybe pick up a belt against one of the alphabet soup champs on an off night. Mostly he would just be a fringe contender, he wasn't athletic powerful fast skilled enough to compete with the top guys at there best

He would win the cruiserweight title until Holyfield came along

 

his problems would be holmes, Tyson and possibly witherspoon,otherwise he'd beat the rest. Clearly he'd have won a title.

However his longevity at the top was never tested, mainly due to lack of opportunity. So I cant comment on duration.