North Bergen’s own James J. Braddock commemorated with bobblehead figure

Eighty-eight years since James J. Braddock won the heavyweight championship with one of the greatest upsets in boxing history, he has been commemorated with an Academy Award-nominated movie, a New York Times best-selling book and a statue in a park named after him. 

Now, he has been immortalized with a bobblehead doll.

Fans of “The Cinderella Man,” the North Bergen resident who upset Max Baer on June 6, 1935 to win the heavyweight crown, can now celebrate his legacy with an 8-inch tall bobblehead doll, which was released today, Feb. 2, by Piscataway-based company FOCO. The doll sells for $75 plus shipping, and will be made in a limited edition supply of just 224.

“We are ecstatic to throw James J. Braddock into our boxing bobblehead collection,” said company spokesperson Justin Slome. “This is a piece that has been in the works for months so it is awesome to see this once in a lifetime collectible come to life and we wanted to let all of our boxing fan customers never forget about a man that contributed to paving the way for the boxing industry for many years to come.”

Braddock joins a list of other boxing legends slated for the FOCO bobblehead treatment, including Jake LaMotta, Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano.

Braddock, whose career record was 46-24-4 (26 knockouts), was born in New York City but lived for much of his life in North Bergen, N.J. A large park located across the street from his home is named in his honor, and a 10-foot statue of his likeness was unveiled there in 2018.

Braddock died in 1974 at the age of 69, and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001.