Seventy five rounds and bare knuckled. That was some tough hombre and the opponent was no slouch himself.
By Miguel.GFZ
Semi-retired like Vito Corleone before the heart attack. Consiglieri to J.Kb and AWA. I lived in a Gun Control Paradise: It sucked and got people killed. I do believe that Freedom scares the political elites.
The fight was under the old London Prize Ring Rules. What this meant was that a round ended when a fighter was knocked down or thrown (grappling was permitted) to the ground. Thus a round could be over in seconds, rather than the timed rounds of modern boxing. As each round ended the fighters went to their corners, then back to mid-ring where a line had been scratched in the dirt – – this was called “coming up to scratch.” The new round began when both fighters were standing at the scratched line.
Kilrain’s bout with Sullivan lasted two hours and sixteen minutes. Kilrain was a legitimate badass by any measurement you care to use… But John L. Sullivan was the undisputed ultimate badass of his age.
Kilrain’s bout ended when his cornerman threw in the sponge (yes, a sponge, not a towel) signaling the end of the fight. Kilrain was reportedly quite angry with him for ending the fight. His cornerman’s defense was that he thought Kilrain was going to die in the ring if he didn’t quit.
Rather a different era than today’s “skip half a season due to an ingrown toenail” athletes.
I read once that bare-knuckle bouts often went long because the fighters needed to protect their hands and didn’t punch as hard as gloved boxers do. I don’t know if that’s true, but having suffered two “boxer’s fractures” (I’m a slow learner), it makes sense to me.