By John F. McKenna (McJack): John L. Sullivan retired after the fight and although he fought in exhibitions, he stayed retired. In his retirement years he would be a stage actor, speaker, celebrity baseball umpire, sports reporter and bar owner. Eventually Sullivan gave up drinking. As the story goes he walked into a bar, looked at his reflection in the mirror behind the bar, did not like what he saw and threw a bottle at the mirror, shattering it. He then turned around, walked out of the bar and never took another drink. He became involved with the temperance movement, becoming a temperance lecturer. He retired to a farm in Massachusetts and in declining health passed away on February 7, 1918. His old rival Jake Kilrain, who had become close friends with Sullivan, served as a pall bearer at his funeral.

John L. Sullivan did much to advance boxing, making the link between bare knuckle and gloved fighting. He became a boxing immortal and is still considered by many boxing historians to be one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time. Sullivan was future hall of fame Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey’s idol.

Sullivan in addition to drinking large quantities of whisky would begin to imbibe heavily in Champagne. He would say many times that “when opening a bottle of champagne one could hear the laughter of French peasant girls.” His charisma and penchant for self promotion would transcend the sport. Sullivan would become popular to large segments of the population who knew absolutely nothing about boxing. Another one of his quotes when people would refer to him as a braggart was that “It ain’t bragging if you can back it up!”

It is probable that no fighter has had such a profound impact on boxing.