It’s where local legends come from. John L. Sullivan, the last Heavyweight Bare Knuckle Boxing Champion of the World, trained for
one of the most important fights of his career nearly 120 years ago in Belfast, New York. His trainer,
a celebrated and undefeated wrestler named William Muldoon, lived in Belfast and set up his barns as a training center to
prepare The Great John L. for his fight against Jake Kilrain in Richburg, Mississippi in July 1889. For over a century, those training barns have been virtually untouched. Much of the original equipment is still
in place, right where John L. Sullivan left it when he boarded the southbound train for the epic 75 round bare knuckle battle
that redefined his place in history as the first American Sports Hero. When the brawl was finished, Sullivan retained his
title as Heavyweight Champion of the World.
Sullivan’s training barns are being relocated from the present
location to a site just off Main Street in Belfast and opened to the public for the first time in over 100 years as part of
the Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame (BKBHOF).
