An advertising trade card for the cigarette brand Allen & Ginter from the 'World's Champions' series, Series 1 (N28), issued in 1887. One card was included with each packet of ten cigarettes. The set consisted of 50 cards featuring athletes, divided into categories such as baseball players, oarsmen, wrestlers, pugilists, rifle shooters, billiard players, and pool players. This particular card depicts John L. Sullivan, the legendary American boxer known as 'Boston Strong Boy', who became the first widely recognised heavyweight champion of the world in 1882, dominating the sport until his retirement in 1892, and is remembered for popularising gloved boxing in an era dominated by bare-knuckle fights.