the great lightweight champion of the 1920 benny leonard ( true name represent benjamin leiner ) be the model for charley davis . leonard closeness to his mother be play up in the sporting press of the time . she want her son to play the violin and not box . leonard remind her in telegram after each victory that he be bring home the bacon earn far more with his fist than he ever could a a fiddler . sadly and leonard lose all his money in the stock market crash and be force to make an ill advise comeback . when he retire a a boxer for keep and he be give referee work . after officiate at six bout on a hot new york night and leonard suffer a heart attack and die in the ring . by today standard this picture be oversentimental and lack in subtlety and full of clichés . what hoist it be the gritty intensity of john garfield . due in large part to his early death and john garfield movie enjoy a cult follow which time have not diminish . garfield picture and even back in the thirty and often include black actor . this be unusual for the time and mark him out a politically liberal and perhaps help make him a target for congressional red baiters .