Could Ali of beaten John L Sullivan in Bare Knuckle Boxing

Ali probably quits rounds 40-50, Sullivan's face would look like a raw steak

The chance of Ali breaking a knuckle is high, that would soften the blows. Really the entire ruleset is against Ali here, and he's against the best man to ever Bareknuckle box in terms of h2h prowess imo.

 

One thing I've not seen brought up that might cause Ali trouble is the spiked shoes often worn in LPR. It meant you had to lift your feet more.

 

Ali has more skills, size, and speed. He'd have to adjust a bit and not hit the top of the head, but I think he'd out class Sullivan. Ali was a pretty good clincher. He would probably be all right using his weight advantage to prevent throws.

Sullivan himself said he preferred gloves.

 

Sullivan wins a bare knuckle fight with Ali, in that day it was almost organized street fighting . Now put Joe Frazier in with Sullivan and I'll be ringside

 

About anything that has anything to do with boxing.

 

Just to be clear, under London Prize Ring Rules, Ali doesn't even have the most basic skill set!

 

I am going to argue that a great bare knuckle champion from the 1880s (not 1900s), would beat any man who never fought under that rule set.

That seems very reasonable to me.

 

When you put it like that it sounds reasonable, but the "x" factor is the opponent. Ali is the GOAT, the greatest boxer to have ever lived.
Not to mention, I'm sure Ali got into plenty of scraps as a kid (which I know isn't the same, but he most likely fought bare-knuckle before)

 

His skill would be speed and punching. He did clinch well, so that skill could be somewhat transferred to London rules. But I must admit I have no idea is spiked shoes would slow him down!

 

I invite everyone to read about all the trouble Sullivan had against Mitchell who was a runner like Ali, except smaller, probably slower, and physically deficient to Ali in virtually every way. Sullivan couldn't finish off Mitchell in 39 London-Prize-Ring rounds and had to settle for a draw. If Ali was of a mind to fight under those rules, he would have taken his time and punched Sullivan silly in a way Mitchell was unable to do and Corbett later did using skin-tight gloves under early-day M of Q rules.

 

Are you serious?

How do you think he would do against someone like, say, Carnera? Do you think, he would be able to manhandle a giant strong-man like that in the clinches - and throw him to the ground whenever he wanted? Not very likely, imo!

 

Mitchell basically spoiled to survive, by going down every time Sullivan landed anything meaningful.

Once he went down or took a knee, the round ended, and he got thirty seconds to recover.

At the end of at least one round, he had to be carried back to his corner, but of course he had thirty seconds to recover.

I personally doubt that Ali would have been inclined to employ such tactics.

It is also only fair to note, that this was a badly depleted version of Sullivan.

By this stage of his career, he had broken his left arm in the Cardiff fight, and he never seems to have fully recovered from the injury.

He was also a full blown alcoholic by then.

You could pick a much better version of Sullivan for the fight, though it would be at the expense of most of his LPR experience.

 

It is very feasible to employ a wrestling throw against a much bigger and stronger man.

It would not take a big pro wrestler to defeat a super heavyweight boxer in a wrestling match.

 

So Sullivan was a pro wrestler?

 

LPR fighting involved a lot of wrestling moves, so an LPR fighter would be much better in this regard than a Queensbury fighter.

Now I must qualify this statement with my previous observations about Sullivan's lack of LPR experience, but it would still be dangerous to bet against him in the clinches.