Would anyone include John L Sullivan in their Top Ten HW?

He was my number one for bare-knuckle boxing and fighting drunk, he was an outstanding fighter for his time but I do not close in the gloved era IMO

 

if you count his overall career, he has to be top ten.

he legitimized gloves, was the first sports hero and did very well inside the ring as well.

strictly inside the ring, i think you can find ten more deserving fighters.

 

charley mitchell, dominick mccaffery and jake kilrain were hardly clubfighters, except for mitchell who threw down in pubs quite a bit.

 

This is hard, because he had one foot in one set of rules and the other in another ruleset.

I don't know enough about his opponents to make an educated call, but I would lean towards the "they epitomize the stereotype of right hand windmill, no defense, sloppy guys who would be embarassed today", but who knows...

He does deserve mention and consideration in terms of historical value and greatness.

As a fighter, or boxer, in my mind, he falls into the category of a Tex Cobb or other scary fellow who is a certified ass-kicker on the street and is genuinely tough, but can't hang with world-class fighters. Not top ten-caliber fighters, anyway.

 

Why not?

 

Id like too, I just dont know enough about the contenders and his opponents to even making an educated guess!

 

Trying to fairly rate Sullivan amongst other heavyweight champions always makes me feel ...cold,... distant, clammy, disoriented, lackadaisical, impotent, fibrillated, atrial, exogenic, hygroscopic, superfluous, malevolent, hyperbolic, aimed, crested, colgated, pasted, brushed, fluoridated, medicated, misogynistic, cabalistic, masochistic, ambiguous, arthritic, syphilitic, exuberant, ecstatic, emphatic, lymphatic, systematic, mechanic, robotic, endothermic, blue, stumpy, endoscopic, plaid...someone help me out here.

 

I have the usual list...

1 Ali
2 Louis
.
.
.


And on that list, I have John L just ahead of Ali. :yep

 

Constipijaculated ?

 

Aye, that's it. It's nice to know someone's got my back, here.

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Not sure what this is? But, it sounds painful!

 

It is.

Very!


On the bright side, it's a rare condition that has only ever affected ESB posters who have the word " ears" in their username.

 

he only fought for a portion of the world title at any time ('white' world title) so cant really say how good he would be taking on the whole world's best. Might well have got pounded out by the best blacks if he'd tried. I wonder if thats really why he didnt try.

borderline ATG because of this, migitated by his undefeated record in his prime (albeit a loot of travelling circus fights were included).

might struggle today with someone crap like corrie sanders. Guess we'll never know, but I am prety sure the better champs that followe himd would have all wrecked his face.


Still a fascinating character, a bridge with another age of fist fighting that had names like Jem Mace in its time. Astounding to think that there are probably still men alive who watched him box (albeit in exhibitions) when they were little boys. Freaking mindblowing thought.

 

mm on 2nd thoughts those little boys are now all passed away in the last decade, I would guess.

but you never know.

Also, missed opportunities to tug at that utterly stupid looking handlebar moustache, that would have been fun to watch.