18 Facts About Yankee Sullivan

Yankee Sullivan claimed the American bare knuckle heavyweight champion from 1851 to 12 October 1853.

Yankee Sullivan lost any claim to the title after losing a fight to John Morrissey.

On 2 February 1841, Sullivan defeated Hammer Lane in Crookham Common for the Middleweight Championship of England in a nineteen round bout, taking 34 minutes.

Yankee Sullivan was sentenced to two years in state prison for his involvement in the promotion of a fight between Christopher Lilly and Thomas McCoy, which resulted in the death of McCoy on 13 September 1842.

Yankee Sullivan received a pardon after two months on the condition that two men put up two hundred dollars, and that he agree not to fight for two years.

Yankee Sullivan defeated Robert Caunt, one of his best known opponents, in eight rounds and twelve minutes at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.

Yankee Sullivan met Tom Hyer, a native New Yorker of Dutch heritage, at a fine restaurant at the corner of New York's Broadway and Park Place, early in 1849.

Yankee Sullivan had planned to meet him there for a brawl, possibly for publicity, but according to most newspapers of the day, with the clear intent of doing him harm.

Yankee Sullivan had acted as a second to Country McClosky in his recent loss to Hyer, and had hoped to avenge McClosky by defeating Hyer.

Yankee Sullivan hoped to use what he believed to be an advantage in grappling, to weaken the larger Hyer by way of hard throws, legal in London Prize Ring Rules, but when this failed, Hyer's superior reach and height allowed him to dominate Yankee Sullivan.

Several accounts do report that Yankee Sullivan attempted to throw Hyer in the early match with some success, and credited him with the first three.

Yankee Sullivan claimed Hyer's status as a champion in 1851, though not all present day boxing historians recognize his reign as heavyweight champion.

Yankee Sullivan was the dominant fighter for the first fifteen rounds but wore down as the fight progressed, and both fighters had taken punishment by the thirty seventh round.

The referee later declared Morrissey the winner, partly because he refrained from the spectator brawl at the end of the 37th round, though many disputed the referee's decision, believing Yankee Sullivan had clearly led the fighting.

Yankee Sullivan later moved to California, where he found employment as a "shoulder striker" guarding ballot boxes to deter supporters of candidates other than his employer from casting their vote.

Yankee Sullivan was the guard over a ballot box that was tampered with, resulting in the election of James P Casey to a city office, despite Casey never appearing on the ballot.

Yankee Sullivan was buried at Mission Dolores Cemetery near the southwest corner of 16th Street and Dolores Street in San Francisco on 31 May 1856.

Yankee Sullivan left a wife and child in California, and another wife in New York.