In my honest opinion, I think that John L. Sullivan is the second greatest fighter of all time. The reason for this is because he is the greatest puncher ever lived, and he has a very good chin. He was the last great bare knuckled champion and the first gloved champion.

In 1882, the English writer Oscar Wilde traveled to Mississippi by boat costing him 2 weeks time. In 1882, Jesse James left his hiding place and risked his life by going down to Mississippi by horse. The reason why these great men went down to Mississippi is to see the great John L. Sullivan fight for the first heavyweight championship of the world. His opponent was the Bareknuckle Heavyweight champion of America, Paddy Ryan. The fight only went on for 6 round before Sullivan knocked Ryan out. This was the first of two fights that John L. Sullivan had bare knuckled.

John L. Sullivan had a bone shattering punch. Many of the toughest men in the world could not get two the second round with John L. Sullivan. By the late 1880s John L. Sullivan's punching power was starting to diminish and men were able to go more and more rounds with him.

In 1889, John L. Sullivan had to prove his great chin in a fight against Jake Kilraine, who figured that he could easily beat the champion. This was the last bare knuckled fight that Sullivan had, ending the bare knuckled era in boxing. The fight lasted a very long time, and everybody feared for the champion when he vomited in the 44th round, but Sullivan pushed on. It went until the 75th round, when Jake Kilraine finally went down. In my opinion, Jake Kilraine was the toughest man ever to step in the ring.

John L. Sullivan stopped fighting as often, and went to the bars to much and he became fat and flabby. In 1892 he had a fight with the will of the wisp Gentleman Jim Corbett. Sullivan came into the ring looking like he had been training for a pie eating contest rather than a championship fight. The fight went 21 rounds, with Sullivan not being able to get a good hit on Corbett, and Corbett not punching much to tire him out. Makes you think that he was the original Muhammad Ali. In the 21st round, Corbett saw the oportunity and pounced, knocking the champion out. It was John L. Sullivans only loss. Sullivan also never had another fight again. In February of 1918, John L. Sullivan died at 59 years old from liver damage done by alcohol. To me, John L. Sullivan will be the second greatest fighter of all time because of his amazing punching power and his amazing chin.