Is there a picture of Sullivan around the time of the Corbett bout?

I have seen drawings and he looks flabby with a big gut.

I believe he got down to around 212 for the bout. One member of his camp deemed any appearance of fitness to be the result "excessive rubbing"...

 

So you're saying he wasn't sporting a thong?

 

212? if only he had put on 30 lbs then he would have been the equal of todays cream of the gassing fatboys.

 

There are multiple photos of Sullivan taken before the Corbett fight from a physical exam prior to the bout ( not too long before ) and he looks terrible. His muscle mass had shrunk. His face looked like a dried out old drunk. His shoulders, chest and arms looked thin. He was absolutely nothing like the photos taken in 1882 of a powerful athlete .. it is astonishing to me that he managed to take such punishment and go over twenty rounds against a prime Corbett .. there is no mistaking the fact he looked horrible. The photos are in his book on the Life of 19th Century Gladiator .. I'd post them if I knew how to do so here but I will try if no one else is able to ..

 

Here .. scroll thru this and you tell me ..

https://books.google.com/books?id=D...page&q=john l. sullivan physical exam&f=false

 

Sullivan had been a raging alcoholic for years prior to his bout with Corbett.

 

He looked like a fat, bloated drunk for his fight with mccaffrey in 1885.

 

Sullivan was a terrible drunk starting as early as his fabled barnstorming tour in 1883 .. the abuse he put his body through was horrific. He was a shell of a shell against Corbett .. the 1882 version that fought Ryan was a physical marvel.

 

Thanks! I've passed over this book many times. That was my mistake.

He looks like an old, fat drunk.

 

My pleasure .. the book is readily available on Amazon and oddly was originally released right at the time of his fight w Corbett ..

 

When you factor in Sullivan’s alcoholism, the injury to his left arm which he never recovered from, and his lack of experience with the bareknuckle rule set, it is incredible that he dominated Killrain the way he did!