Born in New York City on June 7, 1905, James Braddock first fought for the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) World Light Heavyweight title against Tommy Loughran at Yankee Stadium on July 18, 1929, but lost by unanimous decision. Thereafter, in the early years of the Great Depression, his career took a downturn and, at one stage, he was forced to file for government relief, of $17 a week, to support his family.
However, on June 14, 1934, Braddock stepped in as a subsitute opponent for promising heavyweight John ‘Corn’ Griffin at Madison Square Garden Bowl and, unexpectedly, won by technical knockout in the third round. Two more unforeseen points victories later, against John Henry Lewis on November 16, 1934 and Art Lasky on March 22, 1935, both at Madison Square Garden, Braddock had earned another world title fight.
On June 13, 1935, back at Madison Square Garden Bowl, Braddock faced reigning National Boxing Association (NBA) and NYSAC World Heavyweight champion Max Baer. Braddock, 30, was conceding 17lb in weight and 6″ in reach to Baer, 26, and started the fight as the 10/1 underdog. However, Baer produced a lacklustre, listless performance, at least for the first two-thirds of the fight and, even when he increased his work rate, his efforts came to little.
Braddock, by contrast, stuck to his task and eventually ran out a solid winner, by unanimous decision. His exploits did not go unnoticed by newspaperman Alfred ‘Damon’ Runyon, who dubbed him the ‘Cinderella Man’ on the grounds that his ‘was the old story re-enacted in its elementals with a big pugilist in the leading role.’
Braddock made just one, unsuccessful, defence of his titles against Joe Louis at Comiskey Park, Chicago on June 22, 1935, wjere he was knocked out – for the one and only time in his career – in the eighth round. However, he negotiated a clause whereby, if he lost, he would receive 10% of any future title purses won by Louis, so he was set for life whatever happened.
The short answer is yes, he is. Born in Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia, on June 4, 1992, Hrgovic won a bronze medal in the super heavyweight division at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August, 2016. He began his professional career just over a year later, at the age of 25, at Arena Riga in the Latvian capital, where he defeated Brazilian Raphael Zumbano by first-round technical knockout.
In the sixth fight of his professional career, Hrgovic fought American veteran Amir Mansour for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) International Heavyweight title at Arena Zagreb in his hometown in September, knocking out his opponent in round three. After two successful defences of his WBC title, he also won the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) International Heavyweight title, courtesy of a fifth-round technical kmockout of another American veteran, Rydell Booker, at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Hollywood in November, 2020; he has successfully defended that twice since.
Most recently, ‘El Animal’, as Hrgovic is known, outpointed Chinese southpaw Zhilei ‘Big Bang’ Zhang at the Jeddah Superdome, Jeddah on August 20, 2022 to become the mandatory challenger for the IBF World Heavyweight title held by Oleksandr Usyk. Despite being knocked down by a hard left hand in the dying seconds of the first round and, at various times, looking lackadaisical, Hrogovic came through by unanimous decision, 115-112, 115-112, 114-113.
The formidable Croatian, who stands 6′ 6″ tall, may have made more of a meal of beating Zhang than widely expected, but nonetheless defends an unbeaten 15-0-0 record, including 12 knockouts. Still only 30, Hrogovic is currently rated #18 in the world fully deserves a mandatory shot at Usyk, although the latter is pursuing a showdown with Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight title.
A beloved British heavyweight boxer of the post-war era, the late Sir Henry Cooper will always be best remembered for a signature left hook, a.k.a. ”Enry’s ‘ammer”, that knocked down 21-year-old Cassius Clay in the fourth round of a non-title fight at Wembley Stadium on June 18, 1963. Clay won by technical knockout in the fifth round, having opened a nasty, two-inch cut over Cooper’s right eye. In his next fight, at the Convention Center, Miami Beach on February 25, 1964, Clay – soon to become Muhammad Ali – defeated Sonny Liston to become World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC) world heavyweight champion.
Cooper fought Clay again, for the WBC world heavyweight title, at Arsenal Football Stadium, Highbury on May 21, 1966, but was stopped in the sixth round, with another grisly cut, which later required sixteen stitches, over his left eye. That would be the first and last time that Cooper would contest a world title, but it should not be forgotten that he held British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) British heavyweight and Commonwealth Boxing Council heavyweight titles for twelve years and the European Boxing Union (EBU) European heavyweight title for three.
Cooper had already made the decision to retire before his last fight, against 21-year-old Joe Bugner at the Empire Pool, Wembley on March 16, 1971, for the British, Commonwealth and European titles. In any event, Cooper suffered a controversial points defeat, with referee Harry Gibbs scoring the contest 73¾- 73½ in favour of Bugner, handing victory to the challenger by just a quarter of a point. Quoted on the front page of the ‘Daily Mirror’, Cooper said, I thought it was a bad decision. I am only sorry it had to finish like this.’ At the time of his retirement, ‘Our ‘enry’, as he was known, had a career record of 55-40-14-1, including 27 knockouts. In 2000, he was knighted for his services to sport and charity and remains the only British boxer to receive such a honour.