Tho no bigger than a middleweight, Jem was head and shoulders above the usual sluggers of the period, useing speed, science and a tremendous jab, would Mace have the edge over the Bostonian?
In my opinion, nobody who came before Sullivan could have beaten the Boston Strong Boy in his prime, including Jem Mace. Also, I don't think Peter Jackson could have beaten him. And I don't think Corbett would have either, if both men had been at their best.
Mace seems to have been a scientific hitter. Sullivan relied more on brute strength. Its hard to say who would win, but Sullivan was clearly the bigger man, so the edge would he his.
There was talk of Sullivan facing Mace, Allen and other past HW champions, but Sullivan refused offers, because he considered them too old to be competitive or worth money to watch fight for the title. In a prime for prime scenario, I think Sullivan's brute power, ferocity and stamina would have been too much for Mace under both the LPR and MQ rules.
mace probably would have done well for a while but be ground down by sullivan. sullivan v cribb is a more intriguing fantasy match up to me.
Mace was scientific and elusive and proven against much larger fighters. It is also fair to say that the era that he dominated was much stronger than Sullivans. He was also much more tested under London Prize Ring Rules than Sullivan who was primarily a Queensbury Rules pioneer. Having said that many contermporaries thought that Mace was also better suited to the Queensbury ruleset and championed it because it matched his strengths. Under the early Queensbury rules Sullivan seems to have been darn near unbeatable. His oponents either thought to survive, abandoning all hope of winning, or got anihilated quickly, untill he was an epty shell. Only Dominic McCaffrey even seems to have given him a competitive fight, and the circumstances of that fight are curious. If the fight was under LPR then it is possible to imagine Mace winning due to his better aptitude under that ruleset, and the fact that Sullivan would have needed to keep him down for 20-28 seconds to finish the bout. Mace might be able to outlast Sullivan, but Sullivan himself lasted over three hours in LPR fights and he would probably have to expend less energy chasing Mace than Mace would have to expend to keep away from him. In a Queensbury fight Mace could perhaps win if it was scheduled for 4-6 rounds (not uncommon at the time), but if the bout is longer then Sullivan would probably chase him down as he did with Charlie Mitchel, Alf Greenfield and all the other small slick boxers of his era. Sullivan seems to have been highly adept at both catching slicksters and finishing them off under Queensbury rules.
On a side note Mace did continue fighting top guys into his 40s and 50s, and like with George Foreman and Larry Holmes fights at this age it provides a portal for looking between two eras. The sucess that Mace had against Charlie Mitchell and Jack Burke could be taken to imply that he would have taken care of them prety convincingly in his prime. On a side note some people were picking Mace over Jim Jeffries while the latter was champion (perhaps they were the 1900 equivalents of me).
I've read countless reports of Sullivan's LPR bouts with Mitchell and Kilrain, and I still get the feeling that Sullivan was right that they "didnt fight like men should", for both Kilrain and Mitchell would take knees intentionally, or throw themselves down on purpose to get away from Sullivan's bull rushes. Had they "fought like men", Sullivan would have disposed of them rather quickly, imho. His fights with Greenfield and others that went the distance were the same scenario, where these *******s would hit the canvas as much as 30 times in four rounds to last the distance. The McCafferey bout was about the sole competitive bout Sullivan had in his middle to late years as champion under both the LPR and MQ rules. What is the misleading part is that Sullivan generally boasted that if a man went more than four-six rounds with him they would get $1,000 or might as well take the title. When Sullivan failed to kayo McCafferey, the public was confused, believing that since McCafferey survived John L's kayo challenge (surviving all rounds) that he should have gotten the title. However it went to a decision win for Sullivan, considering McCafferey did little to put Sullivan in any detrimental danger. Mace was tough and scientific and the first 'true' world champion of the LPR rules; however his longetivity is a bit exaggerated for over a decade his ring activity was mere exhibitions. The Mitchell bout was interesting, yes, but it was clearly all Mitchell's fight, and after that moment Mitchell and Mace were comrades/friends in the hopes to dethrone Sullivan. Sullivan gets under-rated today because most dont know that much of Sullivan's boxing ability. He was a lethal counter-puncher and outside of his power, he was described as being very quick in the ring and slipped alot of punches and did alot of feints. Mace, imho, was durable and tough but Sullivan was just too much an animal in the ring, and he threw alot of combinations, each with dynamite written all over it.
was sullivan the first fighter in history who won a majority of his fights because his opponent was afraid of him? you establish your reputation as a killer and the opponent has no thoughts of winning, only surviving. modern day equivalents of early mike tyson and nowadays the klitschko brothers show that intimidation can be a huge advantage. sullivan may have been the first.
I don't know if he was the first but he was certainly one of the genra. The reputation surrounding Sullivan was such that many top fighters didn't want to face him even when he held the title, because they had heard too many stories of people being knocked out cold for 30 minutes or being left with badly disfigured faces. That is a menacing reputation.
If Herb Slade was any indication of what Mace would bring to the table I think Sullivan would take it. In a LPR fight Mace can probably fiddle and diddle his way long enough to where the police or nightfall or bored gamblers break up the fight
To be fair to Mace he did also train Peter Jackson and Bob Fitzsimmons. They might be a better indication of what he could bring.
