The actual skill level of Jim Braddock

So this film is in answer to Reznick's clip reel showing Braddock's "skills." I argued that its deceptive to take a few carefully selected clips and present Braddock using skills thats werent really representative of his ability or style the majority of the time. I argued that in fact Braddock was so poor a champion that it would be much easier to find examples of him looking inept than it would be to find clips showing his supposed skills. I was right of course or I wouldnt have wasted my time. In fact I edited this down to make it easier to upload to youtube. There were long stretches in several of these fights were you could literally cut several minutes straight without any editing to illustrate how pedestrian Braddock was. After all, there is a reason why the guy had one of the worst win/loss ratios of any HW challenger. Its no coincidence and it has nothing to do with the mythologizing about him being a hard luck fighter who never got any breaks only to show his true worth when those breaks came.

Sports fans, particularly boxing fans, have a tendency to romanticize. Take your average ham and egger, give him an interesting story and suddenly the fighter went from a mediocre journeyman to am all-time great. Two perfect examples of this in varying degrees are Billy Miske and Jim Braddock. Jim Braddock is our subject so lets focus on him. The story goes that Braddock was a hard luck fighter who never got the breaks or the opportunity to show what he was really made of. He was a diamond in the rough so to speak, just waiting on that opportunity to showcase his true ability as a fighter. Chewed up and spit out by the fight game Braddock had retired in order to devote himself to working full time to support his family during the depression. A chance call to substitute on two days notice on the undercard of Max Baer's title winning fight against Primo Carnera against Corn Griffin afforded Braddock the opportunity that had been missing his entire career. Braddock stole the show and parlayed that victory into two more showcase fights that garnered him a shot at the heavyweight championship. Finally Braddock was center stage and had the support he had always been missing in order to fight the fight of his life and win the heavyweight championship.

The legend of the "Cinderella Man" was born. But lets examine that popular account a little closer. Was Braddock really a hard luck fighter who never got the breaks? Not really. In the 1920s and 30s New York dominated the boxing world. Madison Square Garden was the Mecca of boxing and the short of winning a title the dream of every fighter was to fight in the Garden. New York wanted to maintain this control over boxing and so fighters from the East Coast sphere of influence had a huge advantage of fighters from basically everywhere else.

Case in point, within a year of turning pro Braddock was fighting in the Garden and shortly thereafter in venues like Yankee Stadium and Ebbetts field. Literally thousands of fighters equal or better than Braddock would have killed for that opportunity. When Braddock stepped up his competition his record became spotty. Hed win some. Hed lose some. Finally Braddock was given a chance to showcase his skills against Jimmy Slattery despite having been handily outpointed by Leo Lomski two months earlier. Lomski had earned himself a title shot with that victory but made the ill advised decision pick up some extra fights in the interim and lost two straight to Maxie Rosenbloom and Tuffy Griffiths. So lady luck smiled on Braddock and he was called up to face Jimmy Slattery with the winner slated for a title shot against Tommy Loughran. Braddock won the fight but most papers agreed that it was less his ability that won the fight and more Slattery's love of alcohol.

So it was that Braddock found himself in the unlikely position as challenger for the light heavyweight championship. Yet this time he wasnt up against a drunk and devotee of the great white way, he was up against highly skilled, well trained professional who had been fighting the best in the game for nearly a decade. Loughran made Braddock look like a rank amateur. He speared him on the end of his jab, countered him, spun him, feinted him into position, and did anything else he chose to Jimmy. Braddock simply followed Loughran around the ring round after round with his hands down low, his chin up, and swinging wildly whenever he got within five paces of Tommy. Its not an overstatement to say that Tommy exposed Braddock and Im likely not the first person who used that phrase in regards to this fight.

Braddock had heart, theres no debate about that. And he was rugged and durable. He had to be to plod forward with his hands low eating punches in the hope of landing one of his own. But Braddock's fundamentals were woefully lacking. He duck walked forward behind only a cursory pawing jab (when he actually threw it). He would wing arm punches and haymakers, often from way outside. Its not uncommon to watch him throw an uppercut from four feet away with no hope of it landing. His punches were telegraphed, wide, wild, and often missed. Indeed he often lept in leaving himself off balance. His defense was non existent, he often tried to catch punches in mid air but more often than not he simply ate them. He was especially ineffective on the inside. Mauling doesnt even begin to describe his infighting. Mauling has been used to effect by boxers from Fullmer to Ruiz but Braddock makes Ruiz look like an infighting virtuoso as he would wallow ineffectively all over his opponents on the inside as they landed punches.

But was that the end of Braddock? Was his career thrown into the ashcan of history and he never given a break again? No. In fact within a year after the Loughran debacle Braddock had fought some of the biggest names in boxing at the biggest venues all over the country. The Olympic in LA, the Coliseum in Chicago, the Arena in Philly, Fenway Park, Boston Garden, and Braves Field in Boston and yes even Madison Square Garden invited him back. The problem for Braddock was that he lost most of those fights because, as stated before, when the level of competition increased his mediocre skills couldnt cope.

Over the next several years Braddock's career fell into this similar pattern. He got showcase fights at showcase venues and invariably lost. He could beat the also-rans (usually) but he rarely outperformed an even middling contender before he got his shot at Griffin. And what of that Griffin fight? How did this fight re-energize Braddock's career given that most people today have never heard of Griffin? Well thats interesting. Corn Griffin himself was nothing special (he had struggled with mediocre opposition and his record was largely padded) so it wasnt exactly a marquee win for Braddock but what captured the public's imagination was that it was an exciting win. Griffin was being publicized as a coming prospect and was said to have given Carnera a beating in sparring leading up to the Baer fight. He seemed in control in the second when he floored Braddock for a quick count. When Braddock arose Griffin charged and being overeager was caught himself and sent down for a nine count. When got up the two fighters went at it hammer and tongs and the crowd was in an uproar as both fighters walked dizzily backed to their corners at the end of the round. The fighters picked up where they left off in the third but Griffin, who had already beens stopped four times in his career, was not up to the task and after two more knockdowns the fight was over. Think of Derrick Jefferson, who got a title shot based on his exciting win over 16-9-2 Maurice Harris. Thats the equivalent of this fight. Griffin would win only once more in his career, losing 13 more times.

 

His next fight in the series of three that propelled him to a title shot with Baer was against John Henry Lewis, future light heavyweight champion. At this point in his career Lewis had zero wins against quality heavyweights and despite that fact several sources felt that Lewis deserved the decision against Braddock and noted that despite the fact that Braddock was awarded three rounds on fouls Lewis was still far enough ahead on points that he should have been the victor.

Finally Braddock had made it to a fight with a bonafide heavyweight contender. Art Lasky was highly rated despite having lost and drawn in his previous two bouts. Despite struggling in his last two bouts Braddock defeated Lasky handily. It was a typical Braddock performance with Jimmy trudging forward winging right hands. Lasky fought in a similar style and so it came down to grit and durability, the two virtues Braddock had in spades. Immediately after the fight Braddock petitioned the New York State Athletic Commission to get a shot at #1 contender Max Schmeling to decide who had the right to challenge Baer. Instead, the commission, wanting to keep control over boxing centralized in New York awarded the title defense to Braddock, bypassing Max Schmeling. Sound like a hard luck fighter to you? Sounds like he got one of the biggest breaks in boxing history. Even Baer thought the situation was ridiculous. He had wanted to defend his title against Max Schmeling, considering the German the more lucrative defense. Madison Square Garden was having difficulty negotiating with Schmeling but wanted to maintain control of the title lest a competitor like Mike Jacobs swoop in and steal the fight out from under them so they signed Braddock feeling their hands were tied. Baer was irritated by this feeling Braddock was unworthy and wouldnt draw as much so he made it known that his next title defense would not be with MSG.

Now, if you watch the Braddock-Baer fight closely several things become apparent that were discussed in the press afterwards. First and foremost is the fact that Baer does very little in the fight beyond mug and clown. Baer's excuse for this was that he injured one of his hands early on but the press was very quick to point out that when he actually did fight he used both hands, and his excuse hardly explained his unwillingness to throw both hands. Furthermore, for all of Baer's inactivity Braddock isnt much better. Hes busier and he certainly seems like he wants it more. But hes still the same hapless Jim Braddock, all heart and determination, no skill. He trudges forward, winging punches. Some land, some dont. He allows himself to be tied up and waltzed around because he atrocious at infighting. And frankly who can blame him? If Baer wasnt going to press then why push the envelope? Except for the fact that in this era the unwritten rule was that you had to TAKE the championship and for all intents and purposes this fight, despite the hype around it, was a fairly close fight with the scales tipped at least slightly in favor of Braddock by the fact that three rounds were awarded to him on fouls, just like they had been against John Henry Lewis. When Baer decided to open up on the rare occasions he did he was clearly in charge, clearly intimidated Braddock, and even hurt the durable fighter from New Jersey. When Braddock was returned the winner there was shock but it was accompanied by disgust. Disgust at the way Baer had neglected to defend his title and disgust at the rumblings about the behind the scenes deals that brought the sport to this point. Among these were the rumors that Madison Square Garden had fixed the fight to maintain control of the title since they had Braddock locked up to defend against Schmeling in the event he would win but had lost control of Baer. Another dark rumor was that Baer had sold his title to Braddock for a share of his future earnings. This may sound ludicrous given Braddock's age and limited ability but Baer himself was famous for saying he had a million dollar body and ten cent brain and if the arrangement of "selling" the title for a percentage of future earnings sounds familiar its because Braddock himself famously entered into a contract like this with Joe Louis when he reneged on that agreement to defend against Schmeling and lost his title to the Brown Bomber which effectively kept the HW title controlled by New York. So its not as far fetched as it may seem and these stories predate Braddock-Louis considerably.

After losing to Louis in a fight that he bragged made him $150,000 over the course of Louis' reign he had one last goodbye fight against Tommy Farr. Most observers felt that Farr defeated Braddock but Braddock was awarded the decision. Once again the decision was awarded to Braddock because one round, a round all agreed Farr had won, was taken away from Farr by the referee. Johnny McAvoy, the same referee who was instrumental in Braddocks win against Baer and the same referee who nearly two decades earlier traveled around the country with cheese champ Al McCoy as his personal hired referee to protect his title. In short, McAvoy was a ref that worked for the highest bidder.

So was Braddock really a diamond in the rough? A skilled fighter with a case of bad luck who never got a chance to showcase those skills until it was almost too late? Or was he just a journeyman with modest ability who was at the right place, at the right time? You be the judge:

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I also think the Louis fight is Braddock's finest moment and the fight in which he fights his best. However, in watching that fight again for this video and post and noticed that Louis looked as bad as Ive ever seen him. Watch how he paws with his jab and while throwing also sticks out his right hand with it in a similar pawing manner. I realize hes trying to "catch" any return jabs by Braddock with that right but its actually the most amateurish Ive ever seen Louis look including the first Schmeling fight. Later on he tightened up his defense and instead of reaching out with the right to catch incoming jabs he would wait for them and parry them. This may have been a strategic decision on Blackburn's part but I think it hurt Louis in the fight because with that right extended out alongside his jab it left him open to those ridiculous arm punches that Braddock would throw and allowed him to get scored on unnecessarily. The knockdown, if you watch it closely, you will notice Louis hurts Braddock and then swarms on him. When he does he squares up his feet and then starts to step while punching. This leaves him in a perfect position for a Braddock counter and off balance as well. There were a couple of other things like that I noticed but it was kind of a sloppy performance by Louis.

 

This is definitely true. America needed blue collar heroes. But this situation kinda reminds me of the Robinson-Maxim fight where Maxim says "I didnt have air conditioning in my corner." The guys Braddock was fighting during the depression werent exactly living on caviar and sleeping in silk pajamas and the one guy you could actually say that about, Max Baer, showed up and gave a total non performance largely because he was so complacent. So, again, I cant really get behind the whole story that Braddock was such a hard luck fighter. His story was the story of MOST of those fighters from that era. A lot has also been made of his bad hands but Loughran had famously bad hands. His right hand was basically made of glass and it didnt stop him from whipping Braddock. Leo Lomski's hand was broken so many times it looked like it had been caught in a thresher, try to find pics of it sometime, its shocking, he whipped Braddock. That was just the story of boxing in that era. Had another guy been in Braddock's shoes you could write the same B.S. about him that they have about Braddock. Right place, right time.

Im not hateful about it I just cant give the guy any more credit than he deserves. He got his shot and took full advantage of it but the guy got WAY more opportunities to showcase his talent than most fighters of the era and cried that he never got the breaks. There were tons of guys from MW to HW who could have kicked his ass that didnt get those breaks. His march to the title was written as this glorious comeback but really he beat one contender convincingly in that three fight series and then leap frogged the #1 challenger and refused to defend against him after he won knowing full well that he would lose and then took a percentage of Louis' earnings in the bargain. The guy got a ton of breaks for such a limited fighter and you cant tell me that had nothing to do with his manager's ties to Owney Madden. So I give Braddock a lot of credit for being a genuine tough guy and having a lot of will and determination but that was more the norm than the exception in that era and beyond that the guy was in the right place at the right time.

 

LOL. Yeah, I dont know boxing. Ive only been watching it longer than youve been alive and I guess I didnt know what I was looking.

Get real. You posted another one of your cheesy videos wherein you take a fighters best moments and try to illustrate that this is how that fighter always fought. That its indicative of his style, ability, and level of accomplishment. Sorry pal but that wasnt true for Braddock. Its why he lost a third of his fights. You think all of those guys he lost to were virtuosos? Hell no, you just believe that bull**** hype that he was a really talented guy who never got a chance to display that talent because of events outside of his control. Sorry, but the guy lost at every single stage of his career, often badly, because he simply wasnt that skilled and wasnt that talented. If you think that every person who comes within a sniff of the title is highly skilled and very talented then you are obtuse. People have padded record, yes even back then. People have powerful connections. Some guys literally get lucky. It happens. Thats actually what makes/made Braddocks story so interesting. Not that he was this great fighter plucked from obscurity but in reality how a ham and egger found himself in a title fight and actually won it. And whether you care to admit it it was a perfect storm of events that probably couldnt be duplicated.

1. He got called up out of the blue as stand in for a fight on the undercard of the HW championship.
2. He got recognition as a contender, not the #1, just a contender off three fights, two of which he struggled in.
3. He bypassed #1 contender and was given a title shot due to a promotional dispute and the NYSAC wanting to keep the title in the USA.
4. His shot came against a fairly limited albeit hard punching athletic champion who took Braddock lightly, barely trained, and may or may not have been injured.
5. He wont a very close fight despite a rather poor performance by both fighters in a fight that saw him given three rounds on fouls. And again, this was possibly specifically to keep the title with a fighter who was contracted with MSG (Braddock) as opposed to one who now refused to fight for them (Baer).

So yeah, Id say events conspired to help Braddock along and that he was a hell of a lot more lucky than talented.

 

Yeah, grit counts for nothing in this sport