Sullivan trained his ass off for the most important fights of his career. He fought for three hors in the pouring rain against Mitchell, and two hours in the hot sun against Killrain. For all his failings in terms of work ethic, he should not be written off on that alone.
We know little about John L. Sullivan, but we know enough - he lost the fight. Rocky Marciano didn't lose the fight; as a professional. John L. Sullivan would lose this fight as well, although I believe Rocky would have a tough day.
For all you size fanatics out there, they are not physical equals. They are about the same height, but Sullivan has a chest circumference more like Jeffries, and his optimum weight is ten pounds north of Marciano's
When you compare the time that they respectively spent at the top of the division, then Sullivan losing a fight starts to look very explicable!
We go round and round on Sullivan but he and Rocky participated for the most part in different sports. Please tell me Sullivan’s three most significant M of Q victories and rate the opposition ? Marciano was a legit M of Q world champion. We have absolutely zero to go on accomplishment wise based of level of opposition to merit Sullivan having any shot other than fantasy despite the incoming hundred ambigious comments Janitor will make. It’s like comparing Rocky to a fighter from another combat sport.
Maybe, but losing a fight does not show who would win at peak. Anyone can stay too long & lose, + it does not even consider the competition. Or if someone got a gift decision-I believe that Rocky likely should have lost against Ted Lowry. Sullivan was a Raging Alcoholic who came out of retirement at a time when Marciano was no longer fighting. Just looking at the raw numbers does not say who would win.
He won the "title" bare knuckle .. his legendary bout w Kilrain was bare knuckle .. I understand he fought M of Q but perhaps you can reply to my statement by naming his three biggest victories under M of Q , qualify the opposition and explain how it qualifies him in any to a legit , top of the line M of Q fighter like Rocky ?
Very poor argument. Liston, Foreman, Ali, Tyson, all lost fights. Am I supposed to favor Marciano over them on that sole basis?
True. Who’s tr i just love all the “Rocky trained his ass off”. “Rocky trained harder than anyone ever”. No he didn’t. He trained to requirements of his trainer. Fight. Opponents. Scheduled distance. So did Ali, Hagler, Johnson whoever. They all trained ****ing hard.
It really is difficult to say with how little we know about Sullivan. Furthermore we DO know quite a bit about Marciano and his best opponents. I don’t like making blind predictions but based on what’s available I’d have to go with Marciano
Pretty much this. There just isn't enough to go off of for Sullivan other than written reports and books. The sport was drastically different then with different rules and gloves. In a more modern era based on footage and accomplishments I have to favor Rocky by default.
Good Point. I mean how many body shots can Sullivan take before losing his guts filled with Sally Lunn Rolls and Whiskey all over the canvas.
No disrespect to The Boston Strong Boy but the drawings and portraits of him are pretty exaggerated. There's all kind of definition and muscle and he even appears taller. To his credit there is one good picture of him that shows him very close to Rocky's physique but outside of that he looked like a potato. J.L lacked the discipline, endurance and stamina that Rocky owned.