- Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 8th November 2010
Located in the town of Belfast, New York, the Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame is situated in the training barns in which William Muldoon trained the great John L. Sullivan for his epic 75-round World Title fight against Jake Kilrain in 1889.
This remarkable site has been restored as a museum and Hall of Fame commemorating the sports of wrestling and bare-knuckle pugilism. According to ESPN.com:
What remains are the painstakingly restored barns (…) that house the gloves, medicine balls, plaques, rings, weights and other paraphernalia that define the world of boxing. Many of the pieces were used by Sullivan as he trained for the championship fight.
Rooms include a lounge — what Sullivan called his “room of repose,” complete with ornate woodwork in the ceiling — in which the fighter cooled down from exercising and which still contains Muldoon’s chair and some of his books. The barn also contains an upstairs space used by Muldoon and Sullivan for wrestling (…) Visitors are welcomed by a life-sized white marble statue of Sullivan in the front yard.
Congratulations to the organisers for rescuing and restoring this priceless piece of combat sports history.