Jim Braddock’s Inspiring Boxing Comeback: From Poverty to Champion
Jim Braddock’s Boxing Journey
Chapter 1: The story begins in 1928. The American economy is strong, and Jim Braddock has just won his twenty-seventh fight since becoming a professional boxer. The fans love him, and his manager, Joe Gould, brags about the win to Jimmy Johnston, an important boxing promoter who supported Jim’s opponent.
Chapters 2–3: But by 1933, Jim’s luck has gone. America is suffering under the Great Depression. Like millions of other Americans, Jim has no steady job. He and his family move to a poor neighborhood. Jim finds himself unable to pay the bills or buy enough food for his children. He can’t get a job. Jim breaks his right hand in a fight but wants to box again soon afterwards because he needs money. Although it is against the rules, Joe lets him fight with an injured hand. Jim suffers an embarrassing defeat against a strong opponent. He loses his boxing license, and his manager Joe leaves him.
Chapters 4–5: Jim finally gets work for a few dollars a day at the docks. He finds the work difficult because he is forced to use his left hand. Meanwhile, his wife Mae waits in line with the children to get free food. Jim takes a second job and sees less of his family. During the cold winter, Mae hears that their gas and electricity will be cut off because they haven’t paid their bills. Jim and his friend from the docks, Mike, help a poor family who are about to be locked out of their home. Mike tells Jim the people need to organize and fight back. Mae takes the children to live at her relatives’ homes in New York City, which makes Jim angry. He swallows his pride and asks his old boxing friends for money to pay the bills so that the children can come home.
Chapters 6–7: Jim’s right hand finally heals. Joe visits him and offers him one more fight in the boxing ring. The fight is against a promising young boxer, and Mae is very worried. But the prize is two hundred and fifty dollars. Despite having sold his boxing shoes and with no recent training, Jim takes the fight. No one expects a has-been boxer like Jim to fight well. But his work at the docks has strengthened Jim’s left hand and improved his confidence. To everyone’s surprise, he wins the fight.
Chapters 8–9: Mae is happy that Jim won and relieved when he tells her it was just one fight. But although it is against his wife’s wishes, he decides to return to the boxing ring. Jim begins training again, and Joe gets him another fight. He wins and goes on to win more fights.
Chapters 10–11: Jim becomes a popular boxer with working men, carrying their hopes and dreams with every punch. His friend Mike, angry and desperate, dies accidentally while fighting police during a protest. At Mike’s funeral, Mae wonders if she will lose Jim. Finally, Jim reaches the top. His opponent will be Max Baer, a famously violent heavyweight champion who has killed two men in the ring. His wife begs him not to fight, but the newspapers call Jim the “Cinderella Man”. People say that his successful return to fighting has inspired poor Americans.
Chapters 12–13: Mae begs Jim to get out of the fight, but Jim continues his training. Mae goes to church to pray for Jim, but even there she meets people who are excited about the fight and hoping that Jim will win. She begins to understand how important Jim’s fight is to the poor working people. She goes to visit Jim just before the fight and gives him a new pair of boxing shoes to show that now she supports him. That night, Jim enters the ring for the most important fight of his life.
Chapter 14: At home, Mae and the children listen to the fight on the radio. At the end of a long and difficult fight, the two men are still standing. The crowd cheers for Jim, and finally, the judges make the announcement that everyone wants to hear: Jim Braddock is the new heavyweight champion. The fighter’s triumph, both in and out of the ring, has been a truly inspirational tale.