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RINGSIDE
AT R I C H B U R G
Sullivan-Kilrain fight made
headlines and raised a
ruckus 120 years ago
T TEXT BY VALERIE WELLS
“The Bigger Brute Won,”
read the headline in the New
York Times on July 8, 1889.
The national story’s dateline
was New Orleans, but the his-
toric last bare-knuckle fight
took place 104 miles north-
east, just outside Hattiesburg.
After 75 rounds, the fighter
John L. Sullivan - the bigger
brute - defeated John “Jake”
Kilrain near a Richburg saw
mill.
The hype preceding the ille-
gal fight was intense.
Promoters made no secret of
their plans to pit these two
pugilists against each other.
The secret was where the fight
would be. Speculation fell on
New Orleans and crazed boxing
enthusiasts went nuts.
The mad rush out of
Louisiana to avoid the law
filled train cars full of
reporters and onlookers. The
24 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
entire caper would make a
great movie. The event had it
all - comic moments, runs from
the law, raw violence and
3,000 spectators - maybe as
many as 5,000 by some
accounts
Today, 120 years later, the
Richburg site of the famous
sporting event is now part of
Hattiesburg. A road bears the
name of both fighters as if
“Sullivan Kilrain” had been a
single man. A state landmark
sign on Veteran’s Highway near
the Pine Grove treatment facil-
ity gives an abridged version of
the famous fight.
Hattiesburg historian Andrew
English has written a lengthier
account of the illegal match
that attracted a wild media
circus.
“Far from civilization and
the policeman’s baton this was
the site where sports history
would be made,” English wrote
in his new book, “Ringside at
Richburg.”
His extensive examination of
original documents reveals
something of the panic among
law enforcement officials in
the Deep South who knew this
illegal fight was coming soon
somewhere nearby.
“Send me a posse of men at
once!” the sheriff of Marion
County wrote to the sheriff of
Lauderdale County. English
includes the note in his book
as well as the differing
accounts of 3,000 to 5,000 wit-
nesses. He describes the “car-
nival-like atmosphere” of the
bout and the train ride to and
from Richburg.
A substantial amount of
money was involved. English
wrote that the promoters and
investors made more than
$24,000 from the eager fans.
Vendors on the train and at
the site made money selling
beer, water and sandwiches to
the crowd.
Even though the fight was
supposed to start at 8 a.m., it
continued most of the morn-
ing. English notes that records
show it was 104 degrees before
11 a.m. at the South
Mississippi spot surrounded by
pine trees near a saw mill.
And the fight really did last
75 rounds. Blow-by-blow
accounts appeared in many
newspapers. Sullivan probably
had won the fight by the 68th
round when Kilrain started to
act dazed and some wondered
if he had a concussion or possi-
bly a sun stroke from the July
sun. But he hung in there
through the 75th round and
could take no more.
“Kilrain was done for at the
end of the round and he had to
be ‘carried panting to his cor-
ner,’” English writes.
Other records of the match
back this account.
“The fight had lasted two
hours, sixteen minutes, and
twenty-three seconds, and the
spectators, realizing they had
witnessed something momen-
tous, scrounged for souvenirs,”
reads a report belonging to the
University of Southern
Mississippi archives.
Not all those souvenirs went
for free. Splinters of the ring
posts sold for $5. Someone
paid $50 for Sullivan’s hat.
The law did catch up with
the illegal fighters eventually.
Sullivan was arrested in
Nashville and Kilrain was
arrested in Baltimore. They
would have to return to
Mississippi for another type of
fight.
“A Purvis, Mississippi jury
found Sullivan guilty of prize-
fighting, and in the end, he
paid a $500 fine and left the
state,” according to the USM
archives.
“Kilrain, found guilty of
assault and battery was fined
$500 and sentenced to six
months in jail.”
The national coverage the
fight received was unprece-
dented. Wire reports flew out
of New Orleans. Even the
White House got early word
that Sullivan was won the fight
in the Piney Woods.
In his introduction, English
writes about what the ring
must have looked like, how the
crowd acted and even won-
dered about the smell of the
gunpowder in the air.
“I wish I could have been
there,” he wrote.
“Ringside at Richburg:
America’s Last Heavyweight
Bare-knuckle Championship,”
by Andrew R. English is avail-
able at Main Street Books.