John Lawrence Sullivan (October 15, 1858 – February 2, 1918) was an American professional boxer. Nicknamed the "Boston Strong Boy" and known as John L. among his admirers, he is recognized as the first heavyweight champion of gloved boxing, de facto reigning from 7 February 1882 to 7 September 1892. He is also generally recognized as the last heavyweight champion of bare-knuckle boxing under the London Prize Ring Rules, being a cultural icon of the late 19th century America, arguably the first boxing superstar and one of the world's highest-paid athletes of his era.
Newspapers' coverage of his career, with the latest accounts of his championship fights often appearing in the headlines, and as cover stories, gave birth to sports journalism in the United States and set the pattern internationally for covering boxing events in media, and photodocumenting the prizefights.
Sullivan was born on October 15, 1858, in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, to Irish immigrant parents, Michael Sullivan from Abbeydorney, County Kerry and Catherine Kelly from Drum, Athlone, County Roscommon. He attended public schools in his native Boston, attending the Dwight Grammar School and performing well academically.
Sullivan's parents aspired for their son to enter the priesthood as a Catholic priest. To this end Sullivan enrolled at Boston College circa 1875 but after only a few months he turned to playing baseball professionally, earning the substantial sum of $30 to $40 a week for his efforts. As Sullivan recalled in 1883:
"I threw my books aside and gave myself up to it. This is how I got into the base-ball profession, and I left school for good and all. From the base-ball business I drifted into boxing and pugilism."
As a professional fighter Sullivan was nicknamed the "Boston Strong Boy". As a youth he was arrested several times for participating in bouts where the sport was outlawed. He went on exhibition tours offering people money to fight him. Sullivan won more than 450 fights in his career.
Sullivan may have sparred with black boxer James Young at Schieffelin Hall in Tombstone, Arizona, in 1882, though Sullivan later insisted that he never fought a black boxer. If this match did occur, it may have been just a brief sparring session that Sullivan did not regard seriously as a bout.
In 1883–84 Sullivan went on a coast-to-coast tour by train with five other boxers. They were scheduled to hold 195 fights in 136 different cities and towns over 238 days. To help promote the tour, Sullivan announced that he would box anyone at any time during the tour under the Queensberry Rules for $250. He knocked out eleven men during the tour.
In Sullivan's era, no formal boxing titles existed. He became a champion after defeating Paddy Ryan in Mississippi City, near Gulfport, Mississippi, on February 7, 1882. Modern authorities have retroactively labelled Ryan the "Heavyweight Champion of America", but any claim to Ryan's being a "world champion" would have been dubious; he had never contended internationally as Sullivan had.
Depending on the modern authority, Sullivan was first considered world heavyweight champion either in 1885 when he defeated Dominick McCaffrey in Ohio, in 1888 when he fought Charley Mitchell in France, or in 1889 when he knocked out Jake Kilrain in round 75 of a scheduled 80-round bout.
When the modern authorities refer to the "heavyweight championship of the world," they are likely referring to the championship belt presented to Sullivan in Boston on August 8, 1887. The belt was inscribed Presented to the Champion of Champions, John L. Sullivan, by the Citizens of the United States. Its centerpiece featured the flags of the US, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
In March 1888, Sullivan fought Charley Mitchell, an English prize-fighter, for 39 rounds in defense of his world title.
Mitchell was from Birmingham, England and had fought Sullivan in 1883, knocking him down in the first round before the police halted the contest in the third. Their second meeting took place on March 10, 1888 on the grounds of a chateau at Chantilly, France, with the fight held in driving rain. It went on for more than two hours, and by the end of the bout, both men were unrecognizable and had suffered so much damage that neither could lift his arms up to punch. Both men couldn't continue, and the contest was considered a draw.
At this point, the local gendarmerie arrived and arrested Mitchell. He was confined to jail for a few days and later fined by the local magistrate, because bare-knuckled boxing was illegal in France at the time. Swathed in bandages, Sullivan was helped to evade the law and taken across the English Channel to spend the next few weeks convalescing in Liverpool.
The Kilrain fight is considered to be a turning point in boxing history because it was the last world title bout fought under the London Prize Ring Rules, and therefore was the last-ever bare-knuckle heavyweight title bout. It was also one of the first sporting events in the United States to receive national press coverage.
Newspapers carried extensive pre-fight coverage which included reporting on the fighters' training and speculating on where the bout would take place. The traditional center of bare-knuckle fighting was New Orleans, but the governor of Louisiana had forbidden the fight in that state. Sullivan had trained for months in Belfast, New York, under trainer William Muldoon, whose biggest problem had been keeping Sullivan from liquor. A report on Sullivan's training regimen in Belfast was written by famed reporter Nellie Bly and published in the New York World.
Rochester reporter Arch Merrill commented that occasionally Sullivan would "escape" from his guard. In Belfast village, the cry was heard, "John L. is loose again! Send for Muldoon!" Muldoon would snatch the champ away from the bar and take him back to their training camp.
On July 4, 1889, one Kentucky newspaper stated: "The Sullivan-Kilrain prize fight which is to take place in Louisiana on next Monday is now the most talked-about event in sporting circles." The stakes were $20,000 and a diamond world championship belt.