John L. Sullivan describes his stance, gives advice on fundamentals

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Sullivan indicates that his style was different under gloved rules compared to with bare knuckles, you can see his body leaning a bit forward in pictures of the Kilrain fight with his guard low:

https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/sullivan-kilrain-fight/

It does seem like he understood the risks of having a low guard in this write up, in fact a lot of descriptions of Sullivan describe him as being extraordinarily quick for a man of his size and was apparently effective at slipping and parrying punches. Many contemporaries also say John L. can “duck as low as any featherweight.” It seems like Sullivan was a more versatile boxer than history portrays.