WHAT WAS THE HIGHEST ROUND REACHED IN THE HISTORY OF BOXING?
Jake Kilrain couldn’t come out to scratch (couldn’t make it to the center of the ring, to start the round) for the 76th round in his World Heavyweight Title fight with John L. Sullivan in 1889. This fight lasted, reportedly, over two hours in the blisteringly hot summer sun. There’s a difference, though, between our three-minute rounds of today and their “round” . . . .back then a round was a period of fighting between knockdowns. If a knockdown occurred twenty seconds into the round, the round was over. On the other hand, if the round went thirty full minutes without a knockdown, it went until there was a knockdown. In short, a knockdown signified the end of a round. ***I don’t really know if this is the longest fight ever, but it sure is one of the longest. I seem to remember hearing about fights going into the low 100’s. . . crazy. . .
