Sullivan vs. Marciano

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In his prime, Sullivan was in shape, greatly, his later years he really late himself go.

 

So your saying you agree with me?

 

Sullivan was never again in there physical muscular condition of 1882 or so .. he simply became a horrible alcoholic and did tremendous damage to his body .. in his physical prime he was in the mid 180's and likely somewhere in the Sailor Sharkey / Marciano type of size and muscular shape ... even years later against Kilrain he was considerably thicker and stouter ... Muldoon and Sullivan did a terrific job bringing him back the way they did but he was a different fighter buy that time .. less about speed and more about guile, wrestling, endurance ... the photos support this about him physically ...

 

No denying Sullivan was to a degree a physical marvel considering what he put his body through but remember Mitchell was a middleweight ... Sullivan was without question tough as nails and a warrior ..

 

From what I’ve read (and everything anyone can know about Sullivan can only be attained through reading) is that he must have been quite the physical phenomenon. I know how he must have benefited from the printed word…but the magnitude of what he achieved leads me to believe john L must have had something to pull it off. He must have been special. I’ve been reading Adams book and for a long while it seemed like every legitimate challenger that faced him was getting decked really early. It was like once he landed they went over. Time and time again. And a lot of times, because of the threat of police interference, he really wasn’t trying to knock them down, but he was still doing it. Now Perhaps Sullivan naturally had what professional fighters later became…because he really was the first ever full time professional fighter who was able to train, spar and travel with a team of other fighters when everyone else was working for a living in real occupations and built reputations as fighters in their free time…but for it to stand up as long as it did takes something special.

I really think John L came from the exact same raw talent that all the greatest fighters came from. He’s right up there so far as talent goes. Has to be.

we can argue about the level of Sullivans opposition in those pioneering days. How the competition compares to more developed times. No matter. Raw talent is raw talent no matter the era because certain individuals are destined to stand out. John L was one of them.

 

Sullivan was far greater for more reasons than I could list in a week.

Sullivan KO4

 

Sullivan, on paper, does seem like he would be a pretty bad style matchup for Marciano. He seemed like a proto-Dempsey but bigger and more powerful.

Rocky starts off pretty slow whereas Sullivan starts off infamously fast. No doubt if ancient Moore and Walcott were able to clip Rocky then Sullivan surely could if he's 20% as good as people said he was.

 

Yrs I can imagine big John L giving Rocky an unexpected hard fight.
Marciano wins eventually but the Boston strong boy has Rocky black n blue.