John L. Sullivan vs George Foreman

John L. Sullivan arrives in the 70's...to fight under 70's rules...and gets knocked out.

 

Sullivan arrives in the 70s, maintaining that he is still the Champ, having never lost his title in the ring.

Foreman says, “Okay, well let’s sort this”.

Sullivan immediately draws the colour line and refuses to fight Foreman.

John L instead invites Quarry, the best of his deemed “eligible” challengers, to try and take John L’s crown.

John L then asks to be pointed to the nearest saloon for some refreshments.

“Time travel makes a man awfully thirsty you SOBs!” barks John L as heads off into the indicated direction.

 

"I can lick any SOB in the house - in any ERA in the house"

 

Impossible to say, because Sullivan is such a fluid concept.

All that I will say is that what we know about Sullivan's style, points to a stylistic advantage for Foreman.

 

I never seen Sullivan fight, so it’s impossible to judge.

 

What I used to wonder about and started wondering about again after watching some modern day bare knuckles boxing, is what John L. Sullivan looked like in his bare knuckle boxing days. He must have been vicious!

 

Or a stylistic advantage for Sullivan

 

Foreman in less than 30 seconds.

 

I’m not so sure about that, a lot of what I’ve read about Sullivan suggests he is at the very least comparable stylistically to Joe Louis. Reports emphasize Sullivan as an economic fighter who picked and timed his shots well and didn’t not waste punches. Reports also emphasize that he was light on his feet, movement oriented to some extent and very fast handed. Jack McAuliffe also said that Louis brought shades of Sullivan, and I think Louis would be a terrible matchup for George for intangibles like handspeed, economy, shot selection accuracy and timing.

Im not saying Sullivan would win, but from the sounds of it he has a better chance than anyone that predated Louis.

 

Uh huh. Sure, Jan.

 

Sullivan would lose to every single lineal HW champ very badly.

 

Another highly educated opinion.

 

He'd lose to Tommy Burns? Marvin Hart?

 

Yes.