Would John L Sullivan have been a dominant figure ..

I think he would have been a force to be reckoned with in that era, but James J. Jeffries would have been a hard hill to climb for him. I do believe he would have had a good chance of lifting the title from Bob Fitzsimmons if he had gotten to him before Jeffries.

 

Given three months of modern preparation, and only two warm pints of ale a day, I would pick John L over Lennox Lewis.

 

Does he get his two warm pints of ale, on fight day, before, after, or DURING the fight? That could be the deciding factor here.

 

Assuming that you keep all of Sullivan's stats,skills while giving him knowledge of the modern era, plus him adjusting his skills to fit more to the era,I think he'll fit just fine.

 

What would you define "the case for Sullivan" as being?

Sorry if I am being a bit slow.

 

Why he was the best etc.

 

That's easy, because of his sheer dominance.

All you would have to do is argue that his opposition was good, or even that they weren't all that bad.

The problem with that is that the limited evidence points to them not being that good.