In New York, Doc Williams is a manager/trainer devoted to his two young trainees, wrestler Brassie Randall and middleweight fighter Eddie Burke. Impressed by Doc’s honest approach to sports, the president of Madison Square Garden, William Carley, offers Doc the dream job of “matchmaker” for the venue. Doc reluctantly turns down the position when he finds out he could no longer manage Brassie and Eddie because it would be a conflict of interest. Knowing how much this position means to Doc, Brassie and Eddie leave Doc, telling him they are tired of his overbearing management. They take up with a crooked manager, “Honest John” Miller, who works with racketeer Sloane in fixing fights. Sloane wants revenge against Doc, who refused to align himself with Sloane. When Eddie has established a name for himself, Miller arranges with Doc for Eddie to fight at the Garden. In the meantime, he and Sloane’s men spread the word to newspaper reporters that Doc agreed to let Eddie fight out of favoritism. Eddie develops a swelled head and goes “soft” due to a lack of training and too many parties. Both Bee, Eddie’s girl friend, and thickheaded Brassie sense something is wrong, but Eddie has become too conceited to take notice of their concern. As the Garden’s board of directors breathe down Doc’s neck, the evening of the fight arrives. Unknown to Eddie, Miller is working with his opposition, McClune, so that Eddie will lose. He slathers McClune’s hands with plaster that will harden by the third round, so that Eddie will be pummeled into losing. Eddie suffers a terrible beating, but when Doc relinquishes his job so he can help Eddie in the ring, Eddie continues the fight until McClune is declared the winner. Later Doc sees the plaster being removed from McClune’s glove and realizes why Eddie’s ribs were broken. He angrily gathers together former sports heroes who now work at the Garden, and they storm Sloane and Miller’s place, beating all the thugs into submission. Reporters print the truth about the fight, and Doc and Eddie’s names are cleared. In the end, Eddie and Bee marry and head to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch Madison Square Garden (1932)
