John L. Sullivan vs. Steve Taylor

John L Sullivan beat Steve Taylor by TKO in round 2 of 4

• Date: 1881-03-31
• Location: Harry Hill's, New York, New York, USA
• Referee: Matt Grace

This is the fight that helped first establish Sullivan's reputation within the fight community of New York.

Steve Taylor (born John McMahan) was an ex-coroner from Jersey City. He was also an experienced, if lightly regarded, boxer who frequented Harry Hill's bar, one of New York's gathering places for those loyal to the fight game and other elicit industries. He had been a sparring partner for bare knuckle champion Joe Goss and helped train Paddy Ryan in taking the title from Goss.

Determined to make himself the right connections in New York, as he had done in Boston, the younger John Sullivan also became a constant presence at Harry Hill’s. When the relatively untested Sullivan walked into Hill’s establishment and laid fifty dollars on the bar, proclaiming before the rowdy patrons, “I can lick any son of a bitch in this house,” Taylor accepted the challenge and was decisively punished for two, three-minute rounds before Taylor's second, Dick Hollywood "threw up his handkerchief as token of defeat". Sullivan gave twenty-five dollars to his defeated opponent.