Cinderella Man

In 1934, in the depths of the Great Depression, a failed boxer with broken hands came off the welfare rolls for one more fight to feed his wife and three children. Four bouts later, one of the bravest men ever to step into the ring was the heavyweight champion of the world, in the greatest comeback in sports history. He inspired a nation through one of its darkest periods, and his extraordinary achievements led Damon Runyon to nickname him the ‘Cinderella Man.’

Once, he had been a contender, a light-heavy with skill and guts. But hand injuries and the aftershock of the Wall Street Crash left him toiling the Hudson River docks to pay the rent. His dreams of a title were over, his ring earnings gone, and he could barely afford to feed his young family.

But one man never lost faith: his manager Joe Gould. The tiny, loquacious Jew and the tall, straight talking Irishman made an unlikely but inseparable couple, and their belief in each other was unshakable even when Braddock entered the ring a 10-1 underdog against the feared champion Max Baer who had killed at least one opponent in the ring. How the family man with a simple cause triumphed over overwhelming odds became the stuff of legend.

His story captivated the nation in the same way the racehorse Seabiscuit would a few years later. Jim Braddock came to represent the struggle for survival facing many families in mid-thirties America and he became a symbol of hope for the disenfranchised.

Boxing historian Michael Delisa researched the Cinderella Man story for two years for the major Universal Pictures/Miramax Films/Imagine Entertainment movie starring Oscar-winner Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger.

Reviews:

‘This is some story – and Braddock was some man…Excellent.’

Book of the Week, SUNDAY TIMES

About the author:

Boxing historian Michael C. Delisa researched the Cinderella Man story for two years for the major Universal Pictures/Miramax Films/Imagine Entertainment movie starring Oscar-winner Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger. He is also associate producer of a television documentary about Jim Braddock.