Personal Narrative: The Cinderella Man

Perhaps some of you have heard of me. My husband, James J. Braddock, became the number one heavyweight champion in the world just a few days ago in a fight against Max Baer. I consider myself and my family to be extremely lucky and I can only give my thanks to those that supported my husband.
To my knowledge, Jimmy is now being referred to as the “Cinderella Man” because of his amazing recovery. However, some of his fans may wonder how he even fell in the first place. As many of Jimmy’s fans may know, he was quite a famous and rich fighter before the stock market crash. Actually, many of us were economically secure because we invested our money. Jimmy was a popular champion and had never once been knocked out. His income was well in the thousands, …show more content…
As he worked to try to support us, he continued to get injured, and with his lack of food and rest, he wasn’t able to fight properly. His boxing career was over. I can’t hide it - I was a touch relieved. I know it is selfish and illogical of me, but I really could not stand it when he got injured. Still, we had three children, and without that job, it became nearly impossible to pay our bills and get food. There were many days when all we had to eat was salami and watered-down milk. Many families including our own had to collect pieces of wood from the streets to use as firewood. The home that used to be so comfortable and extravagant became empty. Jimmy needed to work twice as hard. It broke my heart when he covered the cast on his hand with shoe polish and looked for a job. With little job experience outside of the ring and with limited positions, he didn’t have many options. He managed to get a job at the docks, which was physically and emotionally exhausting for him. It didn’t even pay all that well, and yet he kept going. During hours that would normally be reserved for partying or for church, he went to work just to get a little more