By Brent Matteo Alderson
John L. Sullivan established the existence and importance of the World Heavyweight Championship. John L. grew up in Boston, a son of Irish immigrants. He played semi-professional baseball and at his best he was 5’10 and around 185 pounds. Early on he learned that he was a natural fighter and after gaining some local notoriety as a tough guy, he quickly embraced the notion of being a professional prizefighter. At the time the concept of world champion didn’t exist because modern means of transportation hadn’t been established. As a result fighters would claim titles of territories. For example, one pugilist might claim to be the champion of Australia and another one the champion of France, but up to that point no one had laid claim to the title of world champion.
In the late 1870’s, Paddy Ryan claimed the American title and most sports people agreed or at least went along with it. Around the same time John L. Sullivan had engaged in a couple of illegal prize fights and had already built a reputation as a promising young fighter. Soon John L. started to call out Paddy Ryan every chance he got and he even officially challenged Ryan in the newspapers.
John L. Sullivan was the Boston Strong Boy and relished his identity as a macho tough guy and was confident and flamboyant about his penchant for knocking people out. They say John L. would demonstrate his brawn by effortlessly lifting up kegs of beer over his head and drinking from them. In fact he used to go to the bar and slap his hand on the counter and yell out that he could “lick any son of a bitch in the house.”
This type of macho bravado immediately gained John L. a certain level of notoriety and the newspapers loved it because he provided them with an endless supply of material and his deeds were usually as outrageous as his quotes. Bar fights and public drunkenness were a regular routine with John. He couldn’t just kick your ass, but he could out drink you afterward.
At the time Paddy Ryan was out of shape, he hadn’t fought in a few years and he had just recently opened a new bar, but public pressure began to mount especially after the sporting public became more acquainted with the name; John L. Sullivan.
Finally backers put up the money and John L. took the title from Paddy Ryan, beating the champion to a pulp and stopping him in 9 rounds. After disposing of a number of challengers, John L, as he was called through out the land, went on a National Tour where he went to over one hundred cities through out the United States and performed exhibitions in town squares. This kind of media tour had never before taken place and was only made possible by the recent installation of the continental railroad. John L. Sullivan didn’t just perform exhibitions, he challenged America. The macho John L said that he would fight anybody for four rounds under the Queensbury of Marquis Rules for 250$.
The tour lasted from September of 1883 until May of 1884. During that time only 11 people challenged Sullivan and he defeated them all. In that era a lot of the modern boxing techniques hadn’t been developed so a lot of the cities or towns just goaded the biggest toughest guy in the region into fighting Sullivan. One of the guys was a 6’6 fisherman that Sullivan easily beat to a pulp. It doesn’t matter that most of the challengers lacked genuine boxing skill because the art of modern pugilism was still in its infancy. What does matter is that John L. went to almost every major American city and went to the town square and basically said, “Who wants a piece of me.” And then he kicked anybody’s ass that took him up on it.
After the continental tour John L. took an extended vacation and went on a European tour. He even performed and sparred in front of the Prince of Wales. By this time John L. was one of the most famous people in the world and a lot of people were looking for someone to dethrone him. Even though boxing was considered and is still considered today to be an unseemly sport, John L. Sullivan’s fame changed the entire face of boxing because people that had previously spoken out against prize fighting began to follow it religiously.
In fact there was an owner of a popular magazine, the Police Gazette, who didn’t particularly like the cocky John L, but liked how the circulation of his magazine increased when he was involved in a big fight. So the Gazette’s owner, Richard Fox, was constantly looking for a formidable challenger who could dethrone Sullivan. And Fox just didn’t look in the United States, but he searched the globe. And in 1889 he found his man, Jake Kilrain, a British Heavyweight with legitimate boxing skills.
Immediately Fox brought him over and gave Jake a 500$ belt and called him the Champion of the world, one of the first times that the term had ever been used in regards to Prize fighting. The people of Boston were so incensed that they pitched in and bought John L. a ten thousand dollar 397 diamond studded belt. Imagine how much that belt would cost today? So the stage was set and the world was about to witness it’s first unification bout for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship of the World. After a give and take struggle John L. was declared the victor when the Englishman couldn’t come out for the 75th round. Afterwards John L. rejected the belt that Richard Fox had bought for Kilrain and called it a “dog collar.” Following this monumental victory, John L. became inactive and tried to capitalize on his fame in a variety of ways, one of which was by performing in plays. He finally lost his title to Gentleman Jim Corbett in 1892.
By that time John L. Sullivan’s legacy had already been cemented and his popularity had created a mystique around the Heavyweight Crown that has been past down through generations. From there after, the world has followed the line of Heavyweight Champions. And since then, there has only been two times in Heavyweight History when the lineage of the title has been broken. One was when Gene Tunney retired in 1928 and the other was when Rocky Marciano retired in 1955. In both instances the prestige and lineage of the title was renewed and restored years later by two of the best heavyweights in history, Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali.
Right now we need a good fighter to step up and restore this prestige to the lineage by claiming his spot as the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World. Our sport needs a heavyweight champion that is popular and dominant. This is how it has been since the late 19th century except for rare instances when fighters like Oscar De La Hoya and Sugar Ray Leonard have carried the sport past it’s core almost cult like following and into the mainstream’s consciousness.
Notes:
Mike Tyson named one of his children after Jake Kilrain.
Richard Fox, John L. Sullivan, and Jake Kilrain are all enshrined in the boxing hall of fame.
John L. Sullivan drew the color line and never fought a black fighter.
Gentleman Jim earned his title shot at Sullivan by fighting the great black fighter of the era, Peter Jackson, through a heated 61-round bout that ended in a no-contest.
During John L. Sullivan’s reign, most fights occurred under the London Prize Ring rules. Under these rules, the two fighters would come to scratch, meaning that they would step up to two lines drawn in the ground, usually on dirt and face off. The fight would begin and would continue until there was a knockdown. Then the participants would have a 30-second rest period and the next round would begin as the two fighters came to scratch again. In the 1880’s boxing was illegal and in order to make the sport more civilized and safer for it’s combatants, the fight game permanently adopted the Queensbury of Marques rules, which are the rules still in use today.
Most of the major fight scribes think that Judah-Mayweather is a joke and that it’s not that good of a fight since Zab lost to Baldomir. Although I must admit that it has lost some of its luster since it’s not for the Undisputed Welterweight Championship, I think the Judah that showed up for the second Spinks fight and the Rivera massacre is going to show up and not the one who fought Baldomir or Rafael Pineda.
All the scribes are dogging on Judah, but writers forget that champions used to lose in non-title bouts all the time. Duran lost to Esteban De Jesus in a non-title affair and was still recognized as champion afterward as was the Bronx Bull Jake LaMotta who lost to Frenchman Robert Villemain. Do what the IBF did and view the fight with Baldomir as a non-title affair. The only problem is that Judah made weight for the fight and the aforementioned fighters didn’t.
Forgetting that non-sense, say what you want to about Zab Judah, but please recognize that he’s the best fighter that Floyd has fought since he tangled with Jose Luis Castillo in 2002. Judah would kill Gatti or any of the other guys that Floyd has been fighting with the possible exception of Corley who lost a close decision to Zab in the summer of 2003.
Check out the current issue of World Boxing, I did an article on Martin Castillo, the first one done on him by Ring Magazine or it’s sister publications.
Castillo beat Floyd Mayweather in the amateurs at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas when Floyd was fighting at 106 pounds
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