Could Ali of beaten John L Sullivan in Bare Knuckle Boxing

Who would win this fight of bareknuckle boxing?


In Sullivans era

 

I don't think Ali's style would've worked well in Bareknuckle, though his athletic and fighting pedigree would make him a tough opponent.

 

Uh...
This is a weird question
I like it I take Ali to win on athletic talent alone.

 

A lot depends on the rules set of the fight, how long the fight is scheduled for. It's a little hard as well to answer, seeing as Ali wasn't a bare hands fighter.
But he was athletic, durable and had plenty of confidence and heart, so that's in favor.
But this is John l s game, so who can really say with confidence.

 

Never, ever pick a man from different sport against ATG. Ali never fought bare knuckle and Sullivan is one of the best ever at that.

 

Great post!!!!!!!

 

Sullivan barely fought under bareknuckle, and the only person he fought Who was really experienced at it was Mitchell

 

Ali had issues with his hands that troubled him; Ferdie Pacheco said he used to inject coritsone in between the webbing Ali's fingers just before a fight so he could punch with full force. Bare knuckles, I think, would only exacerbate this problem.

 

Sullivan was not a bare knuckle specialist himself, but some experience under the rule set is still going to be a lot better than none.

Sullivan bested three of the best bare knuckle fighters of his era, and that is enough to make him the favorite.

I say bested, because although he drew against Mitchell, he clearly showed his superiority.

 

I didn't know that, so would you say that he didn't have good bareknuckle experience? Interesting...

 

Sullivan had three bare knuckle fights, against Ryan, Mitchell and Killrain.

He did also have some fights with hard gloves (basically skin tight leather gloves), which would have given him some preparation for a bare knuckle fight.

He was definitely more an early Queensbury specialist, than a bare knuckle specialist however.

 

Ali had calcium deposits problems with his hands after his layoff and bothered him a lot during Norton- Lubbers timeframe.

 

Paddy Ryan had only had one LPR fight going into his fight with Sullivan (his fight for the vacant Championship of America against Joe Goss). Ryan was very explicit in that being his first LPR fight on atleast a couple of occasions.

I think Kilrain's only bareknuckle fight was his draw with Jem Smith (who in fairness was more of a bareknuckle specialist), and which he got the best of.

It's pretty hard to say how he'd match up against someone with much more experience in bareknuckle, such as Tom Cribb, from when bareknuckle matches were far more common.

Though like Janitor said the gloved fights he fought in were much closer to LPR matches than what someone like Ali experienced.

The impression I get is that the difference between bareknuckle and gloved contest during the 1880's or so is something like the difference between pro and amateur boxing now.

 

As BitPlayerVesti says, Sullivan was probably not one of the greatest bare knuckle fighters of all time.

He was a Queensbury rules specialist, who did very well against the best bare knuckle boxers of his era, who were probably not the best or brightest crop.

The other dilemma you have with Sullivan, is that two of his bare knuckle fights were well past his prime.

That means that you would either have to pick a prime version of Sullivan, with one bare knuckle fight, or a past prime version with two or three.

The best bare knuckle fighters of all time, were probably men like Belcher, Pearce, Cribb, Sayers, and Mace, who were the genuine specialists under that rule set.

For all of that, Sullivan is probably still ahead of Ali on this curve!

 

As long as he didn’t break his hands then yes. Sullivan would still have to catch him and he was a smaller less athletic man besides. In addition the defense and footwork of fighters back then was still primitive.