I'm not an MMA fan, but I did see an interview with Chuck Lidell, hosted by Joe Buck. Lidell is an interesting character but after watching a few of his stand-up clips, I began to wonder. Lidell had some bare knuckle matches. His stand boxing up was a wild, but brutally powerful when he landed which is how I picture Sullivan. Liddell had some speed to his game and was an all-around type of athlete. Somewhere during the interview made a connection between the two. So, is this a valid comparison or not?
There are detailed descriptions of Sullivan’s stance, and fighting style. We know everything except the minor detail.
Yeah, not too many blanks left to fill in with our imaginations...just need to apply some guided creative visualization.
Basically, picture Corbett leaning forward a little, with less mobility. That's what Sullivan's style looked like.* * Based on photographs of the Kilrain fight, what we know about Victorian boxing, a few seconds of clips of Sullivan as an old man, and John Boyle O'Reilly's illustrations.
Here is how contemporary observers described Sullivan's stance: “The secret of the champions prowess is apparent. He carries his strongly muscled shoulders forward. The consequence is that when he delivers a blow he doesn’t have to bring the upper part of his body forward in the delivery. The arm straightens out and the blow is with a suddenness which seems paralysing to the spectators, to say nothing of the man in front of him. He stands with one foot well behind and his body pressing forward”. “The superiority of Sullivan lies in his extraordinary nervous force and altogether incomparable skill as a boxer. In what does this extraordinary skill consist? In hitting as straight and almost as rapid as light, in the variety and rediness of his blows, in standing firmly on his feet and driving his whole weight and nervous force at the end of his fist- a very rare and high quality in a boxer, in movements as quick and purposeful as the leap of a lion. He can duck lower than any featherweight boxer in America”. This obviously leaves some details to the imagination, but it is pretty explicit in terms of his stance.
So it sounds like he leaned forward ( Not wise for defense ) and fought off his back foot. This fits the move forward in a straight line and destroys method not lateral mobility as Corbett displayed.
