Alex Daley @thealexdaley Historian & author
THE iconic world heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan was a man to whom the idea of giving up was anathema. Yet one damp, windy day in Chantilly, France, after more than three hours of hard, futile slogging in the rain, “The Boston Strong Boy” was forced to admit that there was no point in carrying on. A draw was the best he could hope for that day.
His opponent, a British boxer who did not even belong in Sullivan’s weight class, had given the champ a boxing lesson, albeit in a style utterly at odds with Sullivan’s own masculine code. Charlie Mitchell, whom Sullivan scornfully dubbed “The Sprinter”, had used brain over brawn.