Your Take On John.L.Sulivan

[MeccaOfBoxing]

& his greatness??????????

[MeccaOfBoxing]

????????????????????

[Miburo]

Had success in both London Prize Ring rules and Marquess of Queensbury, which is pretty impressive (although it doesn't seem like they had very good criteria for determining bareknuckle opponents as the practice was illegal).

[eslubin]

Sullivan was a great fighter

[StarshipTrooper]

Hard to get a real solid grasp of how good the bareknuckle fighters were. If any of those guys would rate it would probably be Sullivan though.

Poet

[MeccaOfBoxing]

bump.........#

[GoogleMe]

Prime, I wouldn't fight that guy, even for a million ;-) bareknuckled of course.

[MonsieurGeorges]

Sullivan was the first boxer to transcend the sport. Stuff I've read from the day says that ducking was running rampant and Sullivan was one of the few who fought all comers gladly.

Charlie Harvey, old time manager, described Sullivan as a “rushing, tearing-in, two-fisted fighter with a power punch” and called him “… big, fast, and courageous” (see Fleischer 1972 p 207).

Diamond (1954 p 10) writes about Sullivan – “He was quick on his feet – as quick as any modern heavyweight. And what a punch he had! A knockout in each hand! He was not a scientific boxer but a slugger, depending mainly on a vicious right swing to the jaw”.

Durant and Rice (1946) state “He was superbly fast with his hands and he moved always forward, growling as he advanced”.

Grombach (1977 p 43) describes Sullivan in this way “According to the writers of his time, he was a great burly, slugging fighter with bull-like tactics, mighty fists, and little science. He was good-natured, generous, conceited, blustering, and extremely popular”.

[MonsieurGeorges]

Durant and Bettman (1952 p 79) state that “…he was more than merely strong. He was amazingly fast for a big man and had a knock-em-dead punch in either hand. Ring science was not for John L. He never bothered much with defense. He brushed aside blows and kept moving forward, always punching. His was a hurricane attack”.



McCallum (1974 pp 10 11) describes him “ He was far from being muscle-bound. He was a “natural” puncher. His punches were perfectly timed, seldom wild, and fast. In the ring, he was extraordinarily fast. His hands were large. His shoulders enormous, his chest was remarkably deep …”.

Lardner (1972 p 43) writes that Sullivan was a bully, a boozer, and a braggart and later adds that he looked like a conqueror with his florid face, black brow, black hair, mustache, and aggressive fighter’s jaw. Burrill (1974 p 181) says he was “notorious for drinking and tavern brawls”. Tom Langley (1973 p 31) says that “Sullivan implicitly believed in his invincibility and wasted no time in passing on this information to the world”.

[MonsieurGeorges]