July 14, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, before gloves, rules, or weight classes, there was John L. Sullivan: a powerhouse brawler who became America’s last bare-knuckle boxing champion. With fists of steel and a challenge to fight any man alive, Sullivan didn’t just win titles, he won the country’s attention in 1893 with his “Knockout Tour.” The challenge? Last 12 minutes in the ring with the champ and win.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue here with our American stories. Our next
story comes from our regular contributor, Christopher Klein. Fine is
the author of four books and is a freaking contributor
to the History Channel. John L. Sullivan was a nineteenth
century American who was not only the first world heavyweight
champ of gloved boxing, but the last bare knuckle won
(00:33):
two and yes, he had a handlebar mustay, let's take
a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
After imbibing the adulation inside his Boston saloon on the
evening of September twenty sixth, eighteen eighty three, America's reigning
heavyweight boxing champion waded through the throng of fawning fans
outside and stepped into a carriage that sprinted him away
to a waiting train. Hard hitting, hard drinking John Elsa
had departed on many journeys before, but no man had
(01:03):
ever set out on such an ambitious adventure as the
one he was about to undertake. For the next eight months,
Sullivan would circle the United States with a troop of
the world's top professional fighters. In nearly one hundred and
fifty locals, John L. Would spar with his fellow pugilists,
(01:24):
but also present a sensational novelty act worthy of his contemporary,
the showman P. T. Barnum. The champion boxer would offer
as much as one thousand dollars that's about twenty four
thousand dollars today to any man who could enter the
ring with him and simply remained standing after four to
three minute rounds. They didn't have to knock out Sullivan
(01:47):
or get the better of him in the ring. They
simply needed to stay on their feet for twelve minutes.
In essence, the great John Ell was challenging all of
America to a fight. What Sullivan called his knocking Out
Tour was gloriously American, and his audacity and concept its
(02:09):
democratic appeal was undeniable. Any amateur could take a shot
at glory by taking a punch from the best fighter
in the world. Furthermore, the challenge, given its implicit braggadaccio
that defeating John L in four rounds was a universal improbability,
was an extraordinary statement of supreme self confidence from the
(02:30):
twenty four year old fighter. No audience member dared stepped
in the ring with Sullivan on his first few stops,
but John L finally encountered his first challenger in McKeesport, Pennsylvania,
local slugger James McCoy looked like the consummate tough guy.
With tattoos of snakes, flowers and a wide mouthed dragon
plastered on his broad chest. The one hundred and sixty
(02:53):
pounders looks proof deceiving. However, after McCoy opened with the
weak blow, the champion needed only a right and a left.
The fight was over in mere seconds. I never thought
any man could hit as hard as he does, McCoy
said afterwards. But I can say what few men can
that I fought with a champion of the world. And
(03:15):
that's precisely why the Knocking Out Tour generated un president
publicity in newspapers around the country, both for Sullivan and
the entire sport of boxing. Not only was the best
fighter in the world bringing the sport to the masses,
he was letting the masses get in the ring with him.
In Saint Paul, Minnesota, Sullivan finally faced an opponent who
(03:36):
could match him pound for pennant. As soon as time
was called, Sullivan stretched out his arm and six foot
tall railroad engineer Morris Heffey, who weighed one hundred and
ninety five pounds fell on the stage as if he
was struck by an axe. The challenger rose, but as
soon as he was within arm's reach of the champion,
he was down again. The fight took thirty second. If
(04:01):
you want to know what it is to be struck
by lightning, Heffi said afterwards, just face Sullivan one second.
In Davenport, Iowa, blacksmith Mike Sheen told his family that
he was going to face off with a champion. She
AND's frantic White visited Sullivan before the fight and beseeched
him not to fight her husband, but not for the
(04:22):
reason the champion suspected. She said, We've got five small children,
and I don't want them to have a murderer for
her father. If you get into a fight with him,
he'll surely kill you. John l took his chances and
started with a smash to the nose of the stun challenger.
She in surprise turned to rage. He charged at Sullivan.
(04:46):
A big cloud on the jaw by the Champion sent
his foe spinning to the back of the stage, and
the challenger decided he had taken enough punishment. Sullivan sent
Shean away with one hundred dollars for being game. Perhaps
no American has so embodied his times like John L. Sullivan,
the son of Irish immigrants and the upstart United States
(05:07):
in the eighteen eighties, were both young and virile, proud
and cocky, crude and pugnacious. John L. Symbolized and is
scent in America that was flexing its economic muscles on
the world stage at a time when the increasingly popular
theory of social Darwinism emphasized the survival of the fittest.
There was no place in America where that could be
(05:29):
so clearly demonstrated than inside a boxing ring. The legendary
spirit of the fighting Irish that was made flush in
Sullivan transformed him into a hero for the sons and
daughters of Ireland who had been forced to flee their
island home after the potato crop failed. And on the
Knocking Out Tour, Sullivan traveled to the outposts where the
Irish labored in twelve, fourteen and sixteen hour shifts, mining
(05:53):
towns and lumber camps along railroad lines that were built
by Callus Celtic Cans. As soon as Sullivan's sluggers arrived
in the mining boomtowns of the Rockies, the outlaw element
of the wild West seemingly infected the fighters. On Christmas
Day in Denver, Sullivan almost killed a fellow fighter while
playing around with a double barreled shotgun he was told
(06:15):
was unloaded. Two days later, in Leadville, a drunken Sullivan
swaggered and staggered through his performance and backstage hurled a
lighted kerosene lamp and another fighter, falling in argument. In Victoria,
British Columbia, he was in a state of beastly intoxication
and refused to stand for a toast to the health
(06:36):
of the city's namesake, Queen Victoria, explaining that he hadn't
been brought up to seeing irishmen drinking to the health
of English monarchs. After reaching Los Angeles, the fighters turned
back toward the East, with Sullivan leaving a trailer of
broken bottles and fighters littered across America. When Sullivan arrived
(07:02):
in Galveston, Texas, he faced perhaps his toughest foe, an
imposing cotton baylor named al Marx, who was considered the
champion of Texas. The challenger wanted to send an early statement,
and just after shaking hands, he nailed Sullivan in the jaw.
The Texas giant gained confidence after landing several hard blows
on Sullivan in the first two rounds, and he was
(07:24):
convinced John Ell had met his match. Sullivan had spent
the day drinking again, but when he came out in
the third round, the cowboy pugilist noticed a change in
the champion's eyes. John l glared like a wild animal
and then launched an uppercut that nearly lifted Marx off
the ground and followed it with a left smash to
(07:45):
the jaw. Mark sank down like a bag of oats.
Sullivan lifted him up and then cracked him over the
footlights and into the orchestra pit, which broke two chairs,
three violins, and a bass drum. As the Texan unconscious,
the tourist financial manager reached into the gate receipts to
scrounge for twenty four dollars to pay for the destroyed instruments.
(08:09):
In Memphis, bricklayer William Fleming took the stage with the champion.
At the opening signal, Sullivan charged, He fainted with his
left and struck a blow on the lower part of
Fleming's left jaw that knocked him unconscious for fifteen minutes,
total time of about two seconds. Fleming was lifted over
(08:29):
the ropes and helped out of the building to his home.
When he came to, he asked, when do me and
Sullivan go on? You've been on? He was told, Did
I lick him? The oblivious bricklayer asked. On May eighteen
eighty four, Sullivan Sluggers pulled into Toledo, Ohio, nearly eight
(08:50):
months after they had started in Baltimore. The combination had
reached their final stop on an epic barnstorm. In spite
of Sullivan's drunken exploits, the tour been a success. According
to some accounts, thirty nine men had stepped into the
ring seeking to go four rounds with the champion. Thirty
nine men failed. Accounts of the financial receipts from the
(09:12):
tour vary, but Sullivan likely pocketed tens of thousands of dollars,
and his earnings probably approached or surpassed the fifty thousand
dollars annual salary earned by President Chester A. Arthur. While
the exact size of his financial windfall may not be known,
the Knocking Out Tour made Sullivan the most famous athlete
in the United States and one of the most famous
(09:33):
Americans in any walk of life, John L. Spawned page
one headlines wherever he traveled. Sullivan knew how to pull
the levers of the burgeoning American publicity machine. He rarely
turned down a request for an interview, and he was
good copy. His boozing, womanizing, and chronic police blodder presidents
(09:53):
were godsends to big city newspapers engaged in the heated
circulation wars. Thanks to brand new telegraph lines, blow by
blow accounts of his fights and news of his out
of the ring exploits could be transmitted rapidly around the country,
which meant that oceans of ink were spilled on him
every day. The intense press coverage and fan interest surrounding
(10:15):
the Knocking Out Tour provided a mere glimpse of the future.
The modern sports age had begun, and in John L.
Sullivan it had found its first athletic god.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
And a terrific job on the storytelling, editing and production
by our own Greg Hengler and a special thanks to
Christopher Klein, a regular contributor here on our American Stories,
and this one, my goodness, just amusing and fascinating. The
story of the p T Barnum of Boxing. Here on
our American stories.
And we continue here with our American stories. Our next
story comes from our regular contributor, Christopher Klein. Fine is
the author of four books and is a freaking contributor
to the History Channel. John L. Sullivan was a nineteenth
century American who was not only the first world heavyweight
champ of gloved boxing, but the last bare knuckle won
(00:33):
two and yes, he had a handlebar mustay, let's take
a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
After imbibing the adulation inside his Boston saloon on the
evening of September twenty sixth, eighteen eighty three, America's reigning
heavyweight boxing champion waded through the throng of fawning fans
outside and stepped into a carriage that sprinted him away
to a waiting train. Hard hitting, hard drinking John Elsa
had departed on many journeys before, but no man had
(01:03):
ever set out on such an ambitious adventure as the
one he was about to undertake. For the next eight months,
Sullivan would circle the United States with a troop of
the world's top professional fighters. In nearly one hundred and
fifty locals, John L. Would spar with his fellow pugilists,
(01:24):
but also present a sensational novelty act worthy of his contemporary,
the showman P. T. Barnum. The champion boxer would offer
as much as one thousand dollars that's about twenty four
thousand dollars today to any man who could enter the
ring with him and simply remained standing after four to
three minute rounds. They didn't have to knock out Sullivan
(01:47):
or get the better of him in the ring. They
simply needed to stay on their feet for twelve minutes.
In essence, the great John Ell was challenging all of
America to a fight. What Sullivan called his knocking Out
Tour was gloriously American, and his audacity and concept its
(02:09):
democratic appeal was undeniable. Any amateur could take a shot
at glory by taking a punch from the best fighter
in the world. Furthermore, the challenge, given its implicit braggadaccio
that defeating John L in four rounds was a universal improbability,
was an extraordinary statement of supreme self confidence from the
(02:30):
twenty four year old fighter. No audience member dared stepped
in the ring with Sullivan on his first few stops,
but John L finally encountered his first challenger in McKeesport, Pennsylvania,
local slugger James McCoy looked like the consummate tough guy.
With tattoos of snakes, flowers and a wide mouthed dragon
plastered on his broad chest. The one hundred and sixty
(02:53):
pounders looks proof deceiving. However, after McCoy opened with the
weak blow, the champion needed only a right and a left.
The fight was over in mere seconds. I never thought
any man could hit as hard as he does, McCoy
said afterwards. But I can say what few men can
that I fought with a champion of the world. And
(03:15):
that's precisely why the Knocking Out Tour generated un president
publicity in newspapers around the country, both for Sullivan and
the entire sport of boxing. Not only was the best
fighter in the world bringing the sport to the masses,
he was letting the masses get in the ring with him.
In Saint Paul, Minnesota, Sullivan finally faced an opponent who
(03:36):
could match him pound for pennant. As soon as time
was called, Sullivan stretched out his arm and six foot
tall railroad engineer Morris Heffey, who weighed one hundred and
ninety five pounds fell on the stage as if he
was struck by an axe. The challenger rose, but as
soon as he was within arm's reach of the champion,
he was down again. The fight took thirty second. If
(04:01):
you want to know what it is to be struck
by lightning, Heffi said afterwards, just face Sullivan one second.
In Davenport, Iowa, blacksmith Mike Sheen told his family that
he was going to face off with a champion. She
AND's frantic White visited Sullivan before the fight and beseeched
him not to fight her husband, but not for the
(04:22):
reason the champion suspected. She said, We've got five small children,
and I don't want them to have a murderer for
her father. If you get into a fight with him,
he'll surely kill you. John l took his chances and
started with a smash to the nose of the stun challenger.
She in surprise turned to rage. He charged at Sullivan.
(04:46):
A big cloud on the jaw by the Champion sent
his foe spinning to the back of the stage, and
the challenger decided he had taken enough punishment. Sullivan sent
Shean away with one hundred dollars for being game. Perhaps
no American has so embodied his times like John L. Sullivan,
the son of Irish immigrants and the upstart United States
(05:07):
in the eighteen eighties, were both young and virile, proud
and cocky, crude and pugnacious. John L. Symbolized and is
scent in America that was flexing its economic muscles on
the world stage at a time when the increasingly popular
theory of social Darwinism emphasized the survival of the fittest.
There was no place in America where that could be
(05:29):
so clearly demonstrated than inside a boxing ring. The legendary
spirit of the fighting Irish that was made flush in
Sullivan transformed him into a hero for the sons and
daughters of Ireland who had been forced to flee their
island home after the potato crop failed. And on the
Knocking Out Tour, Sullivan traveled to the outposts where the
Irish labored in twelve, fourteen and sixteen hour shifts, mining
(05:53):
towns and lumber camps along railroad lines that were built
by Callus Celtic Cans. As soon as Sullivan's sluggers arrived
in the mining boomtowns of the Rockies, the outlaw element
of the wild West seemingly infected the fighters. On Christmas
Day in Denver, Sullivan almost killed a fellow fighter while
playing around with a double barreled shotgun he was told
(06:15):
was unloaded. Two days later, in Leadville, a drunken Sullivan
swaggered and staggered through his performance and backstage hurled a
lighted kerosene lamp and another fighter, falling in argument. In Victoria,
British Columbia, he was in a state of beastly intoxication
and refused to stand for a toast to the health
(06:36):
of the city's namesake, Queen Victoria, explaining that he hadn't
been brought up to seeing irishmen drinking to the health
of English monarchs. After reaching Los Angeles, the fighters turned
back toward the East, with Sullivan leaving a trailer of
broken bottles and fighters littered across America. When Sullivan arrived
(07:02):
in Galveston, Texas, he faced perhaps his toughest foe, an
imposing cotton baylor named al Marx, who was considered the
champion of Texas. The challenger wanted to send an early statement,
and just after shaking hands, he nailed Sullivan in the jaw.
The Texas giant gained confidence after landing several hard blows
on Sullivan in the first two rounds, and he was
(07:24):
convinced John Ell had met his match. Sullivan had spent
the day drinking again, but when he came out in
the third round, the cowboy pugilist noticed a change in
the champion's eyes. John l glared like a wild animal
and then launched an uppercut that nearly lifted Marx off
the ground and followed it with a left smash to
(07:45):
the jaw. Mark sank down like a bag of oats.
Sullivan lifted him up and then cracked him over the
footlights and into the orchestra pit, which broke two chairs,
three violins, and a bass drum. As the Texan unconscious,
the tourist financial manager reached into the gate receipts to
scrounge for twenty four dollars to pay for the destroyed instruments.
(08:09):
In Memphis, bricklayer William Fleming took the stage with the champion.
At the opening signal, Sullivan charged, He fainted with his
left and struck a blow on the lower part of
Fleming's left jaw that knocked him unconscious for fifteen minutes,
total time of about two seconds. Fleming was lifted over
(08:29):
the ropes and helped out of the building to his home.
When he came to, he asked, when do me and
Sullivan go on? You've been on? He was told, Did
I lick him? The oblivious bricklayer asked. On May eighteen
eighty four, Sullivan Sluggers pulled into Toledo, Ohio, nearly eight
(08:50):
months after they had started in Baltimore. The combination had
reached their final stop on an epic barnstorm. In spite
of Sullivan's drunken exploits, the tour been a success. According
to some accounts, thirty nine men had stepped into the
ring seeking to go four rounds with the champion. Thirty
nine men failed. Accounts of the financial receipts from the
(09:12):
tour vary, but Sullivan likely pocketed tens of thousands of dollars,
and his earnings probably approached or surpassed the fifty thousand
dollars annual salary earned by President Chester A. Arthur. While
the exact size of his financial windfall may not be known,
the Knocking Out Tour made Sullivan the most famous athlete
in the United States and one of the most famous
(09:33):
Americans in any walk of life, John L. Spawned page
one headlines wherever he traveled. Sullivan knew how to pull
the levers of the burgeoning American publicity machine. He rarely
turned down a request for an interview, and he was
good copy. His boozing, womanizing, and chronic police blodder presidents
(09:53):
were godsends to big city newspapers engaged in the heated
circulation wars. Thanks to brand new telegraph lines, blow by
blow accounts of his fights and news of his out
of the ring exploits could be transmitted rapidly around the country,
which meant that oceans of ink were spilled on him
every day. The intense press coverage and fan interest surrounding
(10:15):
the Knocking Out Tour provided a mere glimpse of the future.
The modern sports age had begun, and in John L.
Sullivan it had found its first athletic god.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
And a terrific job on the storytelling, editing and production
by our own Greg Hengler and a special thanks to
Christopher Klein, a regular contributor here on our American Stories,
and this one, my goodness, just amusing and fascinating. The
story of the p T Barnum of Boxing. Here on
our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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