Persistent The Characterization of James J. Braddock
37 From that winning, James J. Braddock becomes famous and nobody thinks the
New Jersey boxer will last a second round. The sportwriters start to write news about him, and named James J. Braddock as the headline of some newspaper.
New Jersey celebrates his victory. Newspaper wrote about it, calling it the best fight they’d seen that night,
which was as good as the church blessing to a younger boxer who’d just fought the first professional match of his life.” Cerasini, 2005: 17
The person who really grateful for this victory is his wife, Mae Theresa Fox. She realizes the impacts of her husband’s job and that is the reason why in every
match she does not want to see her husband directly instead of waits with fearful in home. For every win or lose she thanks God that her husband go home healthy
and still alives. “You get punched. Every time, it feels like I’m getting punched too. And I
ain’t half as tough as you . . . and anyway . . .” she added, forcing her smile to come back, her fears to recede, “who wants those articles about
me running out on a fight again?” Cerasini, 2005: 24
In every match the player should has target and effort to win it. The same thing happens to boxing match. The boxers should have some tricks to outwit
their enemies so that they can win the match. It happens to James J. Braddock. As a boxer he gives his effort to train himself to have some trick to win the match.
Since Joe Gould is become James’ manager, Joe helps James to have discipline training and creates James to be strong and full of confident when he is in the ring.
Braddock’s sharp, solid jab surprised the charging Griffiths, sending the confident hulk back on his heels. Cerasini, 2005: 2
Joe succeeds to increase James’ confident, not only when James’ wants to give some punches to his enemies but also confident to win the match.
38 Joe Gould is not only became James’ professional manager, but also a
close friend to James J. Braddock. Joe builds up the kind of brotherhood with his boxer. It will help the boxer to trustful the manager by the ‘brotherhood’ which
has built since the training until the match. The job of boxing manager is looking for the match to his boxer. But different with Joe Gould, he also builds trustful to
make the boxer believe all the motivation words he gives during the match. Motivation words are needed to the boxer because he will feel not alone fighting
inside the ring. And motivation words also needs to increase confident and spirit to the boxer.
That’s right, thought Jim, he was a winner in the market and in the ring. More than that, he was going straight to the top of the highest skyscraper
in the fight game. With Gould talking up the right promoters setting up the right opponents, Jim was going to get his shot at knocking them all down,
and becoming the Heavyweight Champion of the World— Cerasini, 2005: 14
That statement means that Joe succeeded increase James’ confident to win every match, not only the ordinary match but also Heavyweight Champion. And James
makes it as his motivation in every match. Jim Braddock wanted the chance to prove himself, but he knew a
professional match on his record would derail his ability to fight as an amateur. Cerasini, 2005: 17
That is the reason why confidence is needed for James J. Braddock because he has little body while his opponents are bigger than him. Every people who watch him
will not give support to him but they will mock him. The reason people do that because James starts the boxing match as an amateur and has little body for a
boxer. It seems that impossible for him to win every match. Here Joe Gould takes
39 an important role in James’ life. He does increase James’ confident by giving him
motivation words to accept his shortcoming.