And do it you did, i've learnt more this past 6 month about boxing than I had in the previous 15 years. I feel fairly confident in my knowledge now and in terms of history and it began in this thread.
he was one of the greatest fighters in history. duodenum stated this clearly and perfectly. his longevity, and amazing wins solidifies him as the greatest of all time in my opinion.
indeed. duodenum seems to have completely closed this thread for the moment. i think we'd all be well pushed to top that well educated post.
What about el bujia's summary? "his career" Of course duodenum hit the nail on the head straight away. Great post.
Gans, Walcott, Ketchel, Johnson. How's that for opposition? Only a lb over dethroning Gans for the lightweight title, series' wins over Jeanette, Battling Jim and McVey, as well as two late career stoppages over Wills in their series of fights....I'm only skirting around the edges here, unbelievable resume and attributes.
A+++ sir'! You helped keep Classic afloat. Does anyone know why Langford retired in his corner against Jeannette? Injury, was he just young and getting his ass kicked?
Well for one, he won about 60% of his total fights, Sam Langford was by no means a natural heavyweight. Yet despite losing, he managed to take the gigantic Willie Meehan the distance, lo, spotting him 3 guts, which is a feat in it itself. As did Jack Dempsey. They dont make them like they used to
Forced retirement due to badly damaged eyes. Both said to have been swollen nearly shut, in addition to a bad cut around one of them. Langford supposedly had quite a few moments early in the fight (including knocking Jeannette down at one point) with a concentrated body attack. But Jeannette had taken control of the fight over the last couple/few rounds and was dealing out heavy punishment to Langford before the corner retirement.
Great? Not so much. Let me tell you lads a thing or two about the not-so-great Samuel Langford. Buckle up, boys, because this is going to be some John Garfield shizzle. We're talking things you don't learn in some stuffy bio or issue of Police Gazette. This is intimate firsthand account of the man himself. Here's the skinny: Langford and I were roomed near each other in town and I'd recently laid down not one cent, not twenty cents, not even a whole dollar but THREE for some Dr. Butermann's celery soda-water soupy-goosey tonic. It was near-guaranteed to treat my gout, baldness, on-the-fritz Johnson, and what we used to call, back in the day, "soft mustache". Langford had stopped by under the guise of borrowing a bottle opener. Before I knew it, it was my bottle of celery soda tonic he'd opened and drunk within two gulps! Having no time to stop him, gout and all, I'd yelled immediately after his hatch had been graced with my tonic "Langford, you greedy scoundrel, sir!" and he'd chuckled and replied "Boxed, you know this cockamamie *$^%! wasn't gonna fix your broke-down Johnson anyway, you damnable hooplehead!" and by gum, even "the great" Langford would not have taunted me so if I weren't suffering from the gout and soft mustache. NOT WITHOUT A TUSSLE, gentlemen! When I'd gotten up and around and tracked him down to the local pub, I begun immediately to forewarn of a thrashing! He calmly and with his snakelike smirk said he'd repay me in full for the tonic after the Wills rematch. I say! Giving that louse the benefit of the doubt when my sixth sense forewarned me of a keen fobbing off was a grave error! Arriving home after the bout to find my best truss with my secret billfold gone did give me a start! No doubt, he'd have claimed later to have only wished to borrow a truss and not steal a man's cash. :twisted: But I never associated with him again. There now. I should hope this whole "great" thing has been put to bed, then. :bart Edit: Wait, I'm sorry, I thought you meant "Minnesota" Sam Langford. Forget I said anything. ...I...I never had soft mustache either. My mistake. I was also speaking of Minnesota's rematch with Irish Pip Wills. Good day. This content is protected