Which boxer was nicknamed the 'Cinderella Man'?

Which boxer was nicknamed the “Cinderella Man”? James J. Braddock was nicknamed the “Cinderella Man.”

Braddock earned the nickname after one of boxing’s most dramatic championship upsets. During the Great Depression, injuries to his right hand badly damaged his career, and he worked as a longshoreman while receiving relief assistance to support his family.

He returned to the ring and challenged heavyweight champion Max Baer on June 13, 1935. Braddock was a major underdog, but he defeated Baer by unanimous decision to become world heavyweight champion. Damon Runyon popularized the “Cinderella Man” nickname to describe the unlikely rise.

Braddock’s reign ended when Joe Louis knocked him out in the eighth round in 1937. The story later reached a wider audience through the 2005 film Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe, though the historical nickname belongs to the real boxer, not the movie character.