I shook the hand that shook the hand of John L. Sullivan!

See above.

 

What is the result now?

 

This is a time for Flogging Molly.

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When my dad was a teenager, he saw Jack Dempsey in NYC and wanted to shake his hand, talk to him, ask him a million questions, etc....but he got starstruck and didn't. Dempsey can't be more than one degree of separation from Sullivan. Sullivan died one year before Dempsey became champion, so I'm assuming they didn't meet? Or did they?

 

I would say a good guess is that Charles Hoyt was the first to coin that phrase, in the play he wrote, "The Rag Baby," 1883/1884. It later became very popular among Politicians, when running for office. I've heard that even Teddy Roosevelt said it when running for office.

 

I believe OP may be referring to OC Barber, “America’s Match King” who owned the Diamond Match Co. — which held more than 80 percent of the match market (like the things you used to light cigarettes or birthday candles, not boxing matches) in the 1880s.

He was a rich, eccentric guy. He apparently traveled to Mississippi to watch Sullivan-Kilrain and may or may not have later used the phrase when offering his handshake upon introducing himself.

 

I am more thinking Holmes to Ali, Ali to Louis or Marciano, Louis or Marciano to Willard? And Willard to Johnson? Or even Sullivan himself since he was at one of Willard's title defenses.(I have the film)

 

Our own Burt Bienstock could truthfully make that statement. As a young man he shook the hand of Jack Johnson, who in turn, shook the hand of John L, as the abovementioned photograph demonstrates.

 

It is highly probable that Johnson shook hands with Louis at some point, and that Louis shook hands with Ali at some point.

We probably only need three links between you and Sullivan.

 

(Deleted. I need to work on my reading and comprehension skills. )

 

Probably the quickest short cut to Sullivan, would have been to shake hands with Max Schmeling latter in life!

 

The problem I have with Johnson to Louis is Louis's camp did ban Johnson from the camp. And Johnson was dead by the time Louis was in retirement. So I am not sure on a face to face meeting between the 2.

 

There are well documented face to face meetings between them early in Louis's career. Johnson was allowed to come and go, until he tried to take over Louis's training. Besides, they often brought all the former champions together, for fight cards at Madison Square Gardens. Now if Louis is not a viable link, then no doubt Schmeling or one of the other 30s champions, pressed the flesh with both Johnson and Holmes.