In his time John L Sullivan PRIME could’ve beat anyone on the planet in fair combat

Muldoon trained Sullivan at least once I believe, wonder how those men sparring would've looked.

 

From The Nebraska State Journal 29 May 1889:

"John L Sullivan and William Muldoon gave a wresting exhibition of ten rounds, London prize ring rules, before an enormous crowd tonight. Sullivan was in splendid condition and was received with great enthusiasm by the audience. Muldoon won the first, fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth bouts and Sullivan the others. There was about twenty-seven minutes actual wrestling. Sullivan came out of the contest not in the least fatigued."

 

I highly doubt the premise of this thread. However, I would think Sullivan would be an absolute beast in a bar brawl or street fight. Between his bare-knuckle experience to keep his hands safe through the fight, his grappling experience, and his general toughness, I picture him as being able to just tear up an entire bar of regular dudes in a brawl, like you'd see in a movie. Except bloodier and sloppier.

 

No doubt a strong, stocky, durable, bullish guy like Sullivan who has superb stamina, good punching power, and wrestling experience would be far too much for the average tough guy or even the average boxer in a street brawl with no rules. Might even beat some modern times champions. But the best of all time in a UFC type of setting? Hell no. There are even some old school boxers such as Jeffries or Johnson who could give him a stiff challenge, let alone the huge guys we have fighting today who may have dabbled in kickboxing, BJJ, etc.

 

I'd definitely pick those two over Sullivan

 

Agreed. Under the training of Greco-Roman legend Muldoon, I can't think of anyone who can lick 'im.

 

In the early 1880s, the best non-boxers in the US and Europe were professional wrestlers. They didn't have much in the way of sophisticated groundwork. The Lancashire guys did, but their champion was 140 pounds. Still, they did it full time. Maybe they beat him. Also, even the world of late 1880s when he's training under Muldoon is a little more developed grappling wise than 1880-ish.

Judo is just starting to develop. I've read that there was apparently a mostly-groundwork school that Kano's judoka absorbed most of modern Judo's groundwork from. That was probably in the future. Also, the Japanese judoka were probably even smaller than the little Lancashire guy.

Thai boxing was also not yet a fully developed sport. Its fighters would probably have been quite small, too, and I know that MT even long after Sullivan looks very different from the modern, streamlined system. (Then again, so does boxing.)

France has savate people. Some of them may have dual backgrounds in wrestling and savate; I think there was an earlier guy in the 1860s who did. Those are the only non-boxing strikers who would be close to Sullivan's size.

Gun to my head, I'd bet that one of the wrestlers could take Sullivan. Miller wouldn't be a bad pick. But it's going to come down to grappling, not striking.

 

It's definitely possible, however I'd like to refer to this quote by actor-maybe-fighter Bruce Lee: "A guy who's been wrestling and boxing for a year can beat a martial artist who's been training for 15 years."

Boxing and wrestling, on their own, would be enough to beat most people in a fight. If Sullivan can grapple non stop with Muldoon, the greatest wrestler of the 1880s, for a half hour without getting tired, then I think it's fair to favour him against a solid 99% of the global population.