John L Sullivan ( 1883 ) vs. Bob Fitzsimmons ( 1897 )

I am a huge Fitz believer and I'm not sure if Sullivan had good enough chin to take his power. Fitzsimmons destroyed every single pressure fighter he fought. He also beat very strong hitter Peter Maher twice.

Sullivan is enigma to me, really intersting to read about but I think that Fitz fought in better era and beat better fighters.

 

I think that Sullivan would be too big and destructive.

 

Sullivan definitely wasn't too big for Fitz.

 

I think Fitz was the better fighter

 

I am weak on the era - I heard much about Fitz but John L. Sullivan was supposedly a beast in his day so I will go with Sully

 

Not if he was a contender, but he was an all time great in his own right.

He was probably a much more dangerous finisher than Jeffries was.

 

Ruby Robert demolishes Sullivan in the 18th round with a vicious uppercut after punishing him with fast combos and hard right hands. Sullivan is heard to say while laying prone on the canvas " well I guess I CAN'T lick every ******* in the house".

 

Of course we would have seen Sullivan fight Fitzsimmons, if the police had not stopped it.

That of course would have been a prime Fitzsimmons fighting a shot Sullivan, and it is probably best that it never happened.

 

I’d give Sullivan a clear edge on power. I know fits could crack but Sullivan had monster power

 

This.

Fitzsimmons was a devastating finisher, but Sullivan seems to have been the kind of puncher, where people tasted his power once, then recalculated everything!

Even Joe Choynski said that his power had nothing on Sullivan's!

 

Who were the biggest hitters Sullivan fought? I wonder because Fitz faced Maher, Sharkey, Choynski, Slavin and of course Jeffries. He also faced very good pressure KO artist Creedon at lower weight. His durability is proven at the highest level, even if Sully was more powerful puncher than all of them.

Let's be honest, Sullivan would go right at Fitz and I have questions about his durability here. I'm sure that he was extremely tough man, but did he face good enough punchers to take heavy arsenal from Fitz? Only Jeffries did that and we all know how durable Jeffries was.

 

I don't doubt that he was better puncher and finisher than Jeffries, but did he have similar durability? Maher was also devastating puncher and finisher, but he couldn't finish Fitz in their first fight.

 

I feel the fight would have a classic pattern. For Sullivan to win he’d have to catch Fitzsimmons fast which is not out of the question as Fitzsimmons was hurt multiple times early at heavyweight. Otherwise Fitz, the far , far more schooled and experienced M of Q fighter would time him, catch him and take him out. Given what we know of Sullivan’s style and both men’s power this would be a short fight. This is my most likely guesstimate since we really are clueless to a degree w Sullivan other than a murderous punching, very fast machine. How he could adjust under fire is a guess.