What type of an athlete was John L Sullivan?

Another thing is that this is not prime Choynski, although he was still good fighter then.

 

He was apparently a conditioning nut in between his notorious drinking benders.

From what I’ve read, he had 8-week training camps (far from the norm in those times) and his routine was something like this:

Rise early, walk 12 to 14 miles with the last two in a ‘dead run.’

Eat an enormous breakfast. Rest.

Walk another 6-8 miles.

Rest. Eat again.

A 2- or 3-hour boxing workout (that included someone holding a medicine ball while he worked on body punches much, as near as I can tell from description, like modern fighters work mitts) and sparring.

Eat and go to bed.

That’s a pretty heavy workload to carry on for two months on end.

 

He wasn't sparring with a prime Sullivan either!

 

At the age of 16, Sullivan was a semi professional baseball player, and earned between $25 and $40 a week doing it. He considered making a career of it, but apparently gave it up, because he was better at fighting.

 

When Sullivan fought Paddy Ryan, on 07 Feb 1882, both fighters started their training camps in December of 1881 (exact dates uncertain).

Ryan's training consisted of running ten miles, rowing for 45 minutes, sparring for 30 minutes, and shadow boxing with 2.5 lb dumbbells, and walking.

Sullivan for contrast did 100 yard sprints in 11-11.5 seconds. He took long walks in the morning, in the afternoon he would run, and strike a ball attached to a rope with what was described as "machine gun like regularity."

Sullivan is known to have used Billy Madden and Pete McCoy as sparring partners.

 

on a sidenote I wonder if strength is correlated with speed. I've noticed a lot of speedy fighters also tend to be quite strong, and vice versa.

 

Please read this - info on John L's training camp. There are also old threads on here providing a wealth of style descriptions. Apparently, he was a croucher, with terrific fast and powerful straight punches. Use Google and you will find them.

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/john-l-sullivan-training-camp.538639/

 

I watched a documentary that said Sullivan knocked out over 400 men, impossible to know really but I think he was during his time,,,"the baddest man on the planet

 

Of course strength is separate from speed but I feel like I have seen an unusual amount of speedy fighters also being strong.

 

He was supposedly an exceptional athlete with phenomenal strength and quickness. He had the raw goods and a fighter's temperament.

 

If I downgrade a fighter, it is not because of the era he inhabited. I have always been a huge Sullivan fan and have rated him highly for my entire stay on this board. I will state again, the gulf between Prime Sullivan and his best contenders was greater than that of any heavy champ in history.

 

Good post thanks