John L. Sullivan

John L. Sullivan was born in 1858 in the Roxbury section of Boston, Massachusetts to Irish immigrant parents. If his parents had had their way, their son would have become a Catholic priest. But he showed a propensity for fighting at an early age, and boxing was a natural career choice for him. He became champion of Massachusetts in 1879. In 1882, he challenged the reigning heavyweight champion, Paddy Ryan, and they fought in Mississippi City, Mississippi. Sullivan scored a knockout in nine rounds, becoming the new heavyweight champion of the world.

Reveling in his new role as heavyweight champion of the world, Sullivan toured around the United States fighting in matches and performing in theatres. He was knocked down for the first time in his career when he fought Charley Mitchell in 1883. Sullivan rallied, however, and gave Mitchell a thorough hammering in the third round before the fight was stopped by police. They fought again in 1888 in a bare knuckle contest that lasted more than three hours in a freezing drizzle on an estate in France. The fight was finally declared a draw.

An actor as well as a boxer, Sullivan depended on his standing as reining heavyweight champion of the world to draw crowds to the plays he appeared in. Therefore it was with some reluctance that he accepted Jim Corbett's challenge to the boxing crown in 1892. But accept it he must; to reject a legitimate challenge would spell the end of his career just as surely as to lose.

John L. Sullivan

It had been three years since Sullivan had last defended his title. That was when he defeated Jake Kilrain in a punishing three round bout. The fight, like all other heavyweight fights before it, had been fought with bare knuckles. After this match, Sullivan vowed never to fight with bare fists again; from then on, he would fight under the Marquis of Queensbury Rules, which required the use of gloves. This made the bout with Kilrain the last heavyweight championship to be fought with bare fists.