John Joseph Killion (February 9, 1859 – December 22, 1937), more commonly known as Jake Kilrain, was a famous American bare-knuckle fighter and glove boxer of the 1880s.

The bout was attended by about a hundred of the upper class spectators and journalists, mainly from England, being covered by the major international media of the day, such as Reuters, Gaulois, etc.

After the 3rd round Kilrain scored several knockdowns, and wrestling formed the principal mode of operations for the rest of the fight.

Before the 106th round had started, after two hours and a half of fighting (roughly three times the full duration of modern-day 12-round championship fights,) when darkness set in, the bout was stopped due to technical reasons, as no artificial lighting of the scene has been arranged the outcome was called a draw due to darkness.

[1] Clearly dominant throughout the fight (even the English newspapers wrote that "the Englishman was no match for the American crack") upon his return to the United States, Kilrain was pronounced by Richard K. Fox of the National Police Gazette as Heavyweight Champion of the World for his bout with Jem Smith.

Kilrain is perhaps best known for challenging champion John L. Sullivan in 1889 in the last world heavyweight championship prizefight decided with bare knuckles under London Prize Ring rules in history.

In a hard-fought contest, Kilrain lost at the start of the 76th round (after 2 hours 16 minutes[2]) when Mike Donovan, his second, threw in the sponge.