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Good Morning. Here is a great thought for the day:

Jim Braddock spent the better part of the 1920's boxing in the light heavyweight division. During this time, he gained a reputation for being a fierce competitor with a right hand punch that could stop a bulldozer. His rise through the professional ranks begin in 1926. He won most of his fights and earned a respectable reputation and living. By all accounts, Jim Braddock was a successful man with a good life.

Jim's first big shot came on a warm summer night in 1929. He would face Tommy Loughran for the light heavyweight championship of the world.

Loughran was a young and bright fighter who knew how dangerous Braddock's right hand could be. He studied Braddock's style and went into the fight with a strategy to avoid the right hand. His research paid off and Braddock was never able to land a solid punch with his right. The fight went fifteen rounds and Braddock lost the decision to Loughran. Braddock took this loss very hard.

With this loss, everything Braddock had worked to achieve seemed to be gone. But little did he know how much harder things would get. Less than two months after the loss to Loughran on September 3, 1929, the stock market crashed and thrust America into the Great Depression.

Like millions of Americans, Jim Braddock lost everything with the crash. With no work available, Jim continued to box in order to provide for his family. Unfortunately, Jim's boxing career hit the skids during this time. He lost sixteen of twenty-two fights. To make matters worse, he shattered his powerful right hand and lost his greatest boxing asset. Under pressure to support his family, Jim quit boxing and filed for government relief. For the next few years, Jim would struggle to make ends meet. He worked odd jobs on the docks and took whatever other work he could find. His family finances grew worse, and at times they had very little food or heat for their apartment. It was during these years that Jim Braddock discovered how important his family was to him. Because of this emotional time in his life, Jim would rediscover the true meaning of winning.

A favorite saying of mine is that "God's timing is never early and never late." This was true for Jim Braddock in 1934. Due to a last minute cancellation and the dogged determination of his manager, Jim was given the opportunity to fight on the undercard for the heavyweight championship bout between Max Baer and Primo Carnera at Madison Square Garden. However, there were compelling reasons for him not to take the fight. For one, the fight was at the heavyweight class and Braddock was not a heavyweight fighter. In fact, he was almost forty pounds lighter than the average heavyweight. Also, his right hand was not the same as before and he was uncertain if it would hold up under the stress. And finally, he had not been training for the fight. None of this mattered to Jim. To him, this was an opportunity to make some money to improve his family's well being. As slight a chance as it was, Jim believed he could win and that meant a better future for his family. Winning now meant so much more than it did before. With no training and a bum right hand, Braddock would shock the boxing community by knocking out John Griffin in the third round. Jim later said that his time spent working on the docks had kept him in shape and also helped him to develop a strong left hook — which no one expected.

As word spread of the upset, Braddock's popularity grew and the fight promoters would leverage this popularity to their advantage. As a result, he was given a shot at John Henry Lewis, a fighter that had previously beaten Jim. For this fight, Jim was a huge underdog. Yet again, Jim delivered with a tenth round victory. In doing so, Jim Braddock became an inspiration to the nation during a time that desperately needed something to cheer about. Millions of Americans related to Jim and his working man's story.

In the spring of 1935, Braddock was matched up against Art Lasky. Lasky was the number one contender to fight Max Baer, the reigning heavyweight champion. At the time, there were no discussions about Braddock getting a shot at Baer because nobody believed he could beat Lasky. The fight promoters viewed this fight mostly as a way to capitalize on Braddock's popularity and to make a buck off of him — Braddock winning just did not seem like an option. Jim took Lasky to fifteen rounds. In doing so he punished Lasky so much that he won a unanimous decision. With this victory, he became the number one contender to fight Max Baer for the heavyweight championship of the world — less than a year after working on the docks. The Cinderella Man was born.

Braddock faced Max Baer on June 13, 1935 at Madison Square Garden. He entered the ring a 10-1 underdog and gave up over 20 pounds in weight to Baer. Baer was a ferocious fighter with a hammering right hand who had previously killed two other fighters in the ring. Braddock learned a valuable lesson from his earlier loss to Tommy Loughran. He studied Baer's fight footage and identified a strategy to avoid Baer's crushing right hand — just as Loughran had done to him. In one of the greatest upsets in all sports history the Cinderella Man battled Baer for fifteen rounds, winning a unanimous decision to become the heavyweight champion of the world.

In less than a year, Jim Braddock turned his life completely around. Through his personal trials, he was able to redefine the meaning of his life and thus tap an inner strength greater than he ever knew he had. He found being down is not the same as being out.

Have a wonderful day.

"Each morning is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When the sun rises tomorrow this day will be gone forever, in its place will be something you have left — may it be something good. Follow your heart, it knows what to do."

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