The Last Bare-Knuckle Championship
Mississippi
On July eighth, eighteen eighty-nine, two men squared off on Richburg Hill, right here in Mississippi, in what would become the last bare-knuckle heavyweight championship fight in American history. John L. Sullivan, the Boston Strong Boy and reigning world champion, faced Jake Kilrain in a contest that lasted seventy-five brutal rounds under a summer sun.
The fight went on for two hours and sixteen minutes. Kilrain's corner threw in the sponge to save their fighter, though Kilrain wanted to go on, and Sullivan retained his title. Bare-knuckle boxing was illegal nearly everywhere at the time, and authorities in New Orleans had driven the match to this remote Mississippi location.
Sullivan and Kilrain were both later arrested. Just three years later, Sullivan lost his title to James Corbett in a gloved match under Marquess of Queensberry rules, closing the bare-knuckle era for good. This hillside witnessed the end of an age.
