John L Sullivan V Professor Lafflin

Hope i am not cutting into Janitor's excellent thread seeries, but here is a good article on the 'debut' of John Lafflin. It seems that Lafflin was a 200 lber, quite a bit bigger than Sullivan. interestingly, he also started the figh with an illegal shot to the ribs when John L was shaking hands. Lafflin had apparently been the "bully" of New York city for years but he wasnt in the same class as John L and seems to have been completely outclassed.

https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/60779896/?terms=laflin

Laflin was in fact 45 years old in 1890 which made him 39 years old at the time of the John L fight, and a professionl athlete, who actually trained one of the new york senators. he seems to have been in ideal physical condition (so far as that age permits, i guess) and he considered himself the best physical speciman in the world.

https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50371200/?terms=laflin

i am pretty sure that the Jim Laflin referred to in this article is the same person. Nothing exciting but it tells about when Lafflin had a part in an acting play where he was a large wrestler. this was a year or two efore the sullivan fight.

https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50367544/?terms=laflin

it seems from this article that Sullivan wasnt the only person to defeat Laflin as some had done it quicker (not sure if this was before or after he sullivan fight) but it is interesting that this writer considered Laflin and Kilrain as the two main wins of Sullivan to consider when analysing the first Sullivan Corbett fight.

https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50384272/?terms=laflin

Sullivan was reported to earn $8000 for his fight with Laflin which lasted less than 15 minutes.

https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/60779841/?terms=laflin

 

RAther than start another thread i will put this report of Sullivan's encounter with the 170 pound Robinson here. Robinson went down 15 times in the first round and was eventually DQd. Was interesting that this match drew 15000 spectators!

https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50343019/?terms=sullivan

 

I was just posting articles on a debuting fighter i knew nothing about a couple of hours ago. Why do you say that Laflin is a bare knuckle fighter and not a gloved fighter? Is there more info around on him?

 

here is the round by round for the Laflin fight. Sullivan had him down for up to 30 seconds in the first round.

http://fultonhistory.com/highlighte...lton%5fform%2ehtml&.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false

 

Here is a different round by round of the same fight.

http://fultonhistory.com/highlighte...lton%5fform%2ehtml&.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false

This is an interesting article in the buildup. It is interesting that the "Bully" of new york (as another article referred to him as) certainly seems (on my interpretation at least) to have earned his reputation in gloved fighting more so than bare knuckles. It is also interesting that he stood up to sullivan in a spar about a year earlier and he was actually about even money in the betting. Quite surprising really and he must have shown some form, as a gloved fighter, you would think to get those sort of odds.

http://fultonhistory.com/Newpapers ...+112e+1145+&SearchForm=/Fulton_form.html&.pdf

 

This one is slightly off topic, but i put in specially for he grant (hope i havent stole some of janitors thunder here). It is interesting that in previewing Jake Kilrain's record, it is said to be not as long as Sullivans because he only fought without the gloves once. Does this mean that all of his main victories were gloved/queensbury fights? Perhaps he was actually a gloved fighter?

http://fultonhistory.com/highlighte...lton%5fform%2ehtml&.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false

 

here is an article referring to Laflin as a well known sparring instructor.

http://fultonhistory.com/highlighte...lton%5fform%2ehtml&.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false

here is a little more of the build up. I know you always have to sell a fight, but Laflin doesnt seem to have been the complete pushover and easybeat that most are saying nowadays. Unlikely to be the worst challenger for a heavyweight belt.

http://fultonhistory.com/Newpapers ...42+a5d+aa4+&SearchForm=/Fulton_form.html&.pdf

interestingly, this article makes mention of Laflin winning a four round decision over Joe Coburn. Certainly he wasnt the debutant boxrec says.

http://fultonhistory.com/highlighte...lton%5fform%2ehtml&.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false

This one tries to give Laflin more credit for the punishment he took and toughness he showed in the sullivan fight.
http://fultonhistory.com/highlighte...lton%5fform%2ehtml&.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false


This one shows a bit about loughlin who interestingly wrote a book about the dangers of cigarette smoking.

http://fultonhistory.com/highlighte...lton%5fform%2ehtml&.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false

here is a mention of the articles being signed. Note that this was a winner take all fight.

http://fultonhistory.com/highlighte...lton%5fform%2ehtml&.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false

here is a good bit on Lalin's diet. Also interesting that he claims to have beaten sullivan in their last meeting.

http://fultonhistory.com/Newpapers ...81+560+5e7+&SearchForm=/Fulton_form.html&.pdf

 

Just looking summarising all of these articles, Laflin was a bigger fight than i ever thought. He had a win over Joe Coburn (who was world class). It was admittedly only a 4 rounder and was a few years ago, but it does seem as if Laflin was the best fighter in New York (no mean feat) since this time, and the win was actually a pretty good win. He was also a boxer (gloved) fighter rather than a bare knuckled fighter. Plus, he was a modern sized Super Heavyweight! or at least a modern sized heavyweight.

 

Here is the Police Gazette report of Sullivan Lafflin.

http://fultonhistory.com/highlighte...lton%5fform%2ehtml&.pdf&openFirstHlPage=false