Should John L Sullivan rank number one.

You could make the case.

 

I don't think the color line effects his legacy too much. He was essentially retired when Jackson "arrived". Other than that, we can't really name any one he ducked. You could argue that times drew their own color line by the opportunities they allowed, but John L. specifically doesn't carry much blame IMO.

 

I have no idea. He certainly didn't seem scared of anyone. And even regarding Jackson, he said at times that he's would come out of his then retirement to fight him only at other times to talk of the sanctity of the color bar.

 

You cant rank anyone number one of anything without video footage....who would have won a fight ,bigfoot or the Abominable snowman? Do we have video proof? NO,everythings hearsay and story telling with actual facts that cant be judged without some measuring stick that can be seen with actual visuals.

 

You can certainly assess fighters without video footage. Sullivan's dominance of the division in his prime represented the greatest disparity between champ and contenders in the history of the division. That is a fact.

 

This is true.

 

Im not basing him on H2H either,however one just cant transcend a sport with no footage of what they did in the sport itself....Tall tales can be as tall as one wants them ,without the actual character on even some film its left a bit hollow. You simply cannot rank this man number one based on what I just said,no matter what he did in or out of the ring.

 

The case would rest on the following:
• He did more than any other fighter in history to promote gloved boxing and the legitimisation of the sport.
• He unified every existing title claim under both Queensbury and London Prize Ring rules, and was the only heavyweight to be champion under both rule sets.
• He was arguably the first truly global sports star.
• He was one of the most dominant heavyweight champions of all time, in terms of longevity, number of title defences, and dominance of the competition.

 

Jack Johnson would be levels over him if we are going who transcended the sport,outside the ring.

 

It rather depends what you are looking for.

They both transcended the sport in very different ways.