“From a fight fan’s point of view nothing better than this Sullivan-Ketchel match could possibly be offered in the pugilistic line. Ketchel, the most spectacular knocker-outer of the current crop, is to hook up with the larger of the famous Boston Twins…the winner of the scrap will be the bona fide champion…to add a bit of spice to this Sullivan will be seeking revenge…to wipe the Ketchel blot off the family escutcheon.” - The LA Herald.
Sullivan entered the ring first, taking up the northwest corner, the sun to his back. Ketchel, arriving moments later, stalked across to his opponent and confronted him. Sullivan moved to the other corner. Ketchel had enforced his right to chose which corner he would take his rest in, having won the pre-fight toss.
They began at a stiff pace. Ketchel set it, fighting directly, determinedly, but missing often. Sullivan broke into a smile and eventually a laugh as Ketchel repeatedly missed him. Ketchel took the first round on his aggressive pursuit of his elusive opponent and Sullivan finished the round as cheerily as he had begun it, seemingly fighting his own fight. Observers noticed a thin trail of blood coming from Sullivan’s nose as he returned to his stool, squinting at Ketchel through the blazing sun.
The second round was rougher, Ketchel rattling Sullivan’s kidneys in a prolonged clinch, Sullivan “lifting Stanley off his feet” with a huge right hand uppercut, blocking well against the punches that Ketchel brought back. By the third Ketchel was already hunting the body with both hands, Sullivan blocking well to the head, winking happily at his opponent when he managed to get one through. Sullivan seemed primed to take over in the fourth. “Ketchel was right on top of his man,” noted the LA Herald, “but was unable to land. Jack mystified Stanley with clever footwork as the later tried with both hands at the gong.” In the fifth Sullivan “laughed again as Ketchel missed yet another left to the body…feinted Ketchel out of position and they clinched.” In the 8th, Ketchel was cut again, this time over the left eye, which “made him vicious” and he drove Sullivan back to the ropes “missing wildly” with two lefts before slipping to the floor and being rattled at the bell by a returning left hook. Ketchel was winning rounds but at a terrible price. Meanwhile, boxing with great economy, Sullivan was tricking his way through the fight whilst Ketchel expended energy on wasted punches and rushes.
Round nine began quietly, Ketchel chasing Sullivan around the ring to little affect, some ineffective punching was exchanged. Half way through, Ketchel caught Sullivan a hard right-hand punch to the jaw and followed it with a left to the body. A genuinely two-handed fighter, he had landed his first flush combination. Sullivan’s response? To laugh once more. But this time he did not manage to escape, did not manage to counterpunch but instead got hit again, hard. And then again. Ketchel’s variety of attack cannot be overstated, he worked body and head with straight, hooked and uppercut punches and he seems in this round to have utterly destroyed the surety of Sullivan’s guard. Sullivan was still landing at the same rate – but Ketchel was no longer missing.
Sullivan finished the ninth staggering Ketchel with a shot to the chin. He ended the tenth with a “hurricane finish” forcing Ketchel back with headshots. He would not win another round. He would never be the same again. He would win only three of his next ten fights. He was being finished as a fighter. “One of the bloodiest contests seen in recent years” was all but settled. “For the next ten rounds Ketchel battered Sullivan about the ring severely punishing him about the head and body,” said The Herald. “He knew he was beaten many, many round before the end actually came but he saw no way he could get out of his predicament gracefully,” observed The San Francisco Call.
Indeed, Sullivan’s grace deserted him. He would be dropped five times in the coming rounds, four times by body blows, and each time he would attempt to claim a foul. Each time the referee dismissed the claims and Sullivan was forced to climb back into the furnace. When the end came in the 20th, it was pitiful. Forcing Sullivan to the ground with a straight left, Ketchel leapt upon the tortured great as soon as he rose and drove him down again with a left-right combination. Sullivan hauled himself up for once last try. Ketchel smashed through the guard with another left hook to the body and Sullivan fell once more. He shook his head. “No.”
When he came to his sense he tried to claim a foul once more. The referee dismissed him out of hand. Sullivan continued to make his case in a post-fight interview. His words were not carried far, likely because they held no truth, but possibly because Sullivan found it difficult to make himself understood -his lips were so grotesquely swollen he found it hard to talk.
(By, and courtesy of, Matt McGrain)
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