He had been outside Johnston's office when the fight organizer got the bad news about Griffin's opponent, just two days before the big fight. This left Johnston with a problem. Griffin was a promising young star in the boxing world, and Johnston wanted to get the New York sports world interested in him. The young Southern boxer needed to beat a fighter in the city who had once been a big name. Now it seemed that Jim Braddock was the right choice—especially as Braddock's manager was waiting outside Johnston's office