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Sullivan. Corbett had first seen the great man at 15, finagling his way into a theatre to see John L. when he was in his prime. Though awed at the time, he was soon thinking on another level. ”24 On this occasion, prior to the fight with Peter, Corbett received an invitation to meet John L. after the first act of the Chicago performance. Some fighters might have been overwhelmed by the meeting; others might have treated it as a confrontation. For Corbett it was a chance to gain insight. A revelation it was, starting with the powerful handshake that greeted every new Sullivan acquaintance.

At the start of the next frame, police stopped it. Thus did 1894 see Lavigne make a climb. On December 14, he would score another resounding win, though one that would end in tragedy, when he met Andy Bowen in Bowen’s native New Orleans. A hard-hitting mulatto (a term then common, signifying half–African ancestry) with endless staying power, Bowen had engaged in bouts of amazing length in the past year. On April 6, 1893, he had gone 110 rounds to a draw with Texas Jack Burke, the fight lasting seven hours and nineteen minutes.

Gured to be the contest of the Kid’s life. It was indeed a contest. Through four rounds each man had at the other as the crowd raised a deafening yell. In the sixth, Lavigne got home telling shots downstairs while Burge, harboring in his soul no quit, continued to work his jab. But increasingly it was Lavigne. In the 16th, he put Burge on the canvas. The English fighter got up groggy, and went down again. In the 17th, body punches by the Kid set up a right hand that ended it. This win gave Lavigne an international reputation.