John L. Sullivan

[apollack]

New book should be out in week or so:

John L. Sullivan: The Career of the First Gloved Heavyweight Champion.

The direct link is



The preface is also available for viewing:



Advance orders are available.

I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone has about the book.

Basically, it focuses on the boxing much more than any other Sullivan book, not his personal life, etc. I used local next day newspaper reports so that you can experience it the way readers did at the time. Any question you have about one of his fights - this is the book you are going to reference.

[Phantasm]

New book should be out in week or so:

John L. Sullivan: The Career of the First Gloved Heavyweight Champion.

The direct link is



The preface is also available for viewing:



Advance orders are available.

I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone has about the book.

Basically, it focuses on the boxing much more than any other Sullivan book, not his personal life, etc. I used local next day newspaper reports so that you can experience it the way readers did at the time. Any question you have about one of his fights - this is the book you are going to reference.

Sounds interesting. Will it be available thru national retailers? Looking forward to grabbing a copy of it.

[Yogi]

The very, very best of luck with this book, Adam, and I know that I most assuredly will be adding it to my collection...especially if it's largely a book that focuses more on the boxing side of things.

[La_Vibora]

Cool, should be an interesting read. I would love to hear more details about his fights with Patsy Cardiff, Duncan McDonald Paddy Ryan(both of them), Dominick McCaffrey, and the 6'6 300lbs Jack Burns. Good luck!

[Abe Attell]

Does it discuss how he avoided "Black" fighters?

[apollack]

Questions about Sullivan book

To answer all of your questions:

1. You may purchase it through any of the multiple online dealers. It is probably easiest to purchase through the publisher directly. Their link to do that is above in my original post.

2. The book most definitely focuses on the BOXING, not all the other stuff like family, wives, etc. ?I could care less about that. I do what no other has done, which is delve into the boxing ?talking about the opponents and their careers, what the local papers said about the fights, what they said about Sullivan and his skills and ability. That type of information. Not speculation, but what the newspapers at the time said, not something based on hearsay or legend written 20 years later ?which is why my book will be more accurate. Also, I give multiple perspectives on a number of fights, because even local papers often gave different views on fights, just like they do today. Who’s right? I’ll let you decide.

3. For the Cardiff fight, I use the next day local Minneapolis Tribune’s account, as well as the account from the local St. Paul and Minneapolis Pioneer Press. In addition, I sprinkle in non-local sources like the National Police Gazette, and some later quotes from the fighters years later.

My discussion of Sullivan’s bouts with Duncan McDonald is unprecedented, because no one has really bothered to discuss them. Most secondary sources say they fought once to a draw and provide no details. They are WRONG! They actually boxed multiple times and it wasn't what some think?but I won’t spoil it.

Actually, Sullivan boxed Ryan in serious bouts three times, and I am very thorough in my discussions of those bouts, providing multiple local accounts for all three. I actually devote an entire chapter to their first fight.

I also devote an entire chapter to the McCaffrey fight, and will reveal more than you ever thought possible, again using multiple local newspapers (Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, Cincinnati Evening Post), as well as non local sources. I discuss why there has been so much confusion all these years about that fight. In an earlier chapter, I discuss a sparring exhibition that Sullivan had with McCaffrey the year before they fought.

Jack Burns might not have been quite as big has history has reported. Might be one of those situations where he got bigger and bigger over the years, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I use no less than four local Chicago sources to discuss that bout.

4. Yes, I absolutely extensively discuss the color line. In fact, one of my chapters is called, “The Color Line.?Sullivan’s drawing of the color line is thoroughly analyzed using the newspapers of the time. I even discuss Peter Jackson’s career more extensively than anyone ever has in any Sullivan book, providing the details of Peter’s fights, what they said about his skills and abilities, and the discussions about the impediments to his securing a title shot. You will learn a lot about Jackson’s career. Because Jackson learned to box in Australia, I even provide the Australian perspective on the color line, using and citing Australian primary sources such as the Sydney Referee and the Australian Sportsman.

Basically, I guarantee you all will learn more about Sullivan’s career than you ever knew before. That applies even to seasoned historians.

[jason100x]

I am currently reading the Michael Isenberg bio of John L Sullivan. It was recommended to me by someone in this forum a few weeks back and the book is a very good informative read but it does spend a lot of time talking about his impact on the culture of the time and his private life (friendships, family and relationships). There's nothing wrong with that.

Herb Boyd's recent biography of Sugar Ray Robinson was a good read which talked much about his life and I learned a lot about Robinson that I didn't know before but it didn't have much detail at all about the fights, it skimmed many of them over or gave a sentence or two to them. The Isenberg biography is the same way. It talks about the fights, some even with a bit of detail, but with boxing bios I like to feel like I am at the fights. For example, Russell Sullivan's Rocky Marciano:The Rock Of His Times was a perfect blend of his life and detail on his fights. I liked how the descriptions made the fights come alive. Same with the Jack Dempsey biography A Boxer Of Pure Flame.

Those are examples of how to do it right, how to make a valuable boxing bio, one you can read again and again and refer to. From the descriptions here, it sounds like the Adam Pollack book is what I am looking for in regards to Sullivan. I am going to get it soon and I'm confident it will be an excellent addition to my collection, a collection that is already spilling off the shelf.

[butterfly1964]

New book should be out in week or so:

John L. Sullivan: The Career of the First Gloved Heavyweight Champion.

The direct link is



The preface is also available for viewing:



Advance orders are available.

I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone has about the book.

Basically, it focuses on the boxing much more than any other Sullivan book, not his personal life, etc. I used local next day newspaper reports so that you can experience it the way readers did at the time. Any question you have about one of his fights - this is the book you are going to reference.

Why is anyone even writing a book on this piece of garbage? John L. Sullivan wasn't a great fighter period, he was just a bigoted slow, waste of space who disgraced the sport for ducking black fighters on purpose. I'm sure Peter jackson would have murdered him!

[apollack]

Sullivan book

Sir, I think you will find my Sullivan book interesting and informative. It is important because it explains how boxing's first star was born, so to speak. It explains how boxing was really put on the map as a mainstream sport. Sullivan is a very powerful figure whose importance transcends time and race. Now, was he a bigot? Yes. But so were a ton of other athletes and others who were of big importance in sport and in other areas of life at that time. That doesn't mean their lives aren't interesting or that you can't learn something from studying them.

For what it is worth, I extensively discuss the color line and place it in context. I was surprised to find that there were strong arguments on both sides of the issue, but that actually boxing was THE ONE SPORT where arguments for fair play and equal opportunity were lodged by a large segment of the media and sporting public, pretty significant for the 1880s, only two decades removed from the Civil War. Keep in mind, racial separatism was the order of the day in almost every area of life, so Sullivan wasn't an anomaly, but rather a reflection of his times' social mores. Still, surprisingly, he did endure a lot of criticism for drawing the color line. I extensively report on that criticism. I think you'll find it fascinating. As a boxing fan, it makes me feel good to know that the sport I love, which has been perceived as depraved by its detractors, was also the one sport in America where arguments for fair play and meritocracy without regard to race were lodged.

I extensively discuss Peter Jackson's career, more so than anyone else has ever done. I discuss his fights, his skills, and the racial impediments he encounterd.

One thing that comes to light in the book is that the color line is really not as significant in the analysis of Sullivan's career as many might think, for many reasons. First, no black fighter particularly stood out during Sullivan's best years. Second, George Godfrey, the one top American black who stood out, was defeated by Jake Kilrain, who Sullivan fought. Third, Peter Jackson was not a significant contender until the late 1880s. By that time, the Sullivan-Kilrain fight was THE biggest fight to be made in boxing. After Sullivan defeated Kilrain in 1889, he retired, not fighting anyone, white or black, so even though he drew the color line, it didn't matter - he wasn't fighting period. He might as well have drawn the color line against whites. When he finally did fight in 1892, he took on Jim Corbett, who had fought Jackson to a 61 round draw, so Corbett was no less worthy to challenge for the crown at that point than was Jackson.

Oh, and as for your statement that Sullivan was slow, I assure you that you are sorely mistaken. You are thinking of a past his prime Sullivan. In his prime, Sullivan wasn't simply fast, he was extremely fast. Most of the newspapers said that he was the fastest big man they had ever seen, that what made him special was the combination of strength and speed that he had with both hands and feet, such that no man's science could deal with his talent.

[apollack]

Book is now available to be shipped.