Strong Boy: The Life and Times of John L. Sullivan, America's First Sports Hero

Synopsis

&“I can lick any son-of-a-bitch in the world.&” So boasted John L. Sullivan, the first modern heavyweight boxing champion of the world, a man who was the gold standard of American sport for more than a decade, and the first athlete to earn more than a million dollars. He had a big ego, big mouth, and bigger appetites. His womanizing, drunken escapades, and chronic police-blotter presence were godsends to a burgeoning newspaper industry. The larger-than-life boxer embodied the American Dream for late nineteenth-century immigrants as he rose from Boston&’s Irish working class to become the most recognizable man in the nation. In the process, the &“Boston Strong Boy&” transformed boxing from outlawed bare-knuckle fighting into the gloved spectacle we know today. Strong Boy tells the story of America&’s first sports superstar, a self-made man who personified the power and excesses of the Gilded Age. Everywhere John L. Sullivan went, his fists backed up his bravado. Sullivan&’s epic brawls, such as his 75-round bout against Jake Kilrain, and his cross-country barnstorming tour in which he literally challenged all of America to a fight are recounted in vivid detail, as are his battles outside the ring with a troubled marriage, wild weight and fitness fluctuations, and raging alcoholism. Strong Boy gives readers ringside seats to the colorful tale of one of the country&’s first Irish-American heroes and the birth of the American sports media and the country&’s celebrity obsession with athletes.

Copyright:

2013

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

368 Pages

ISBN-13:

9781493001989

Publisher:

Globe Pequot Publishing

Date of Addition:

10/09/25

Copyrighted By:

Christopher Klein

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Sports, Biographies and Memoirs

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.