John L Sullivan still holds the fastest knockout in a heavyweight title fight!

Most people belive Jim Jeffries 55 second destruction of Jack Finnegan to be the fastest knockout ever atained in a fight for the lineal heavyweight title. After the Finnegan knockout, the Detroit Tribune wrote the following:

"Many consider Jeffs 55 second knockout over Finnegan the fastest heavyweight championship win, but in 1884, John L Sullivan knocked out Sylvester Le Gouriff in 20 seconds, and had several other knockouts faster than one minute".

It is hard to bew sure whether the title was actualy on the line during these bouts, but it is interesting to say the least.

 

It is hard to be sure. Back then fights were often billed as exhibitions to avoid legal complications.

It is at at least possible that the title was on the line.

 

Sullivan was widley recognised as the queensbury champion after he defeated Joe Goss in 1881 and after his fight with Charlie Mitchell, I don't think that many people would have disputed his claim.

 

It seems that Le Gouriff was trying to last four rounds with Sullivan to win the $1000 that Sullivan had offered to anybody who could do so. Here is what Thomas Hauser writes about the encounter:

In Oregon, on February 1, 1884, Sullivan faced a challenger named Sylvester Le Gouriff; a giant of a man who weighed more than three hundred pounds. Before the bout, Sullivan surveyed his foe and proclaimed, “The bigger he is, the harder he’ll fall.” Twenty seconds after the bell for round one rang, Le Gouriff was unconscious. “I break wood and fences with my fists,” he told Sullivan afterward. “You break stone.”

 

Yes.

It appears inescapable that this actualy took place!