Boxer known as the “Boston Strong Boy.” Fighting on turf and with bare knuckles, Sullivan became the heavyweight champion of the world under the London Prize Ring rules by defeating Paddy Ryan on February 7, 1882. Ten years later, on September 7, 1892, he lost the championship to James J. Corbett under the new Queensberry rules. ALS, four pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 6.5, December 27, 1912. Letter to Jeremiah Sullivan, addressed to “My dear Yank.” In full: “The bird arrived all to the good and many thanks for the same. If you should have a chance to get about 6 hens of the same breed send them along, that is if they cost a fortune. Now Frank, if you and Mike Welsh get a chance I wish you would come and spend a week with me this summer as as [sic] long as you would like to stay with me. I will take good care of you both. I suppose you saw in the papers of Jimmy Carrolls death and then the contradiction. Well I was glad that it was not so. But if he don’t stop hitting up the booze it will be bound to get him in the end. He is a fine fellow but Frank, the time has approached in this 20th century that fine and good fellows are a thing of the past. The school that you and I and all other good fellows graduated from is a thing of the past. All the old school are fast ebbing away. Those who have sporting interests in hand are a lot of stink pots. No honor or manliness to any of them. Well, this will be all till I write you again. My best wishes to you and Mikey.” After his signature, Sullivan adds his Massachusetts mailing address. In very good condition, with some partial separations and a couple of tiny holes along intersecting folds, light overall soiling, and a small stain affecting nothing.
Sullivan was a man’s man when it came to the ring, fighting bare-knuckled and becoming the first US athlete to earn $1 million. As a boxer, he had helped legitimize the sport, as throughout the 1880s promoters who sensed the large potential audience for the sanitized sport competed to sign prominent contenders while offering handsome winning. Boxing, however, failed to become as regulated as baseball or football, and over time it again seemed to take a turn toward the unseemly, spotlighted by the comment, “Those who have sporting interests in hand are a lot of stink pots”—a likely reference to fixed fights. Incidentally, the reported death mentioned in this letter pertained to a former middleweight boxer who was a contemporary of the heavyweight champ Sullivan. A newspaper reported that he had died in a train accident, only to arrive—alive—at the funeral of a friend. Around the time of this letter, Sullivan was in dire financial straits, had sold his championship belt, and was forced to file for bankruptcy and eking out a living retelling tales from his glory days. Pre-certified Steve Grad/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
$75.00
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
