Can Sam Langford be considerd the greatest heavyweight of all time?

It is an opinion that has been expressed before.

I think that it would be a hard position to justify based on the surviving evidence, but many people who saw him fight thought he was better than Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis and even Sonny Liston latterly.

 

Definitely not the best Heavyweight of all time. Not even top 10. Arguably the pound for pound greatest, though.

 

I think that a top 10 heavyweight slot can be argued.

 

if it's weighed heavily on resume, absolutely

 

Even if its not, Langford is basicaly the smallest heavyweight who has a live chance against literaly anybody.

 

I think u forgot 2 make it multioption poll

 

As the greatest all-time HW, you have to explain away Jim Flynn, Wills, McVea, Clarke, Smith, Ketchell, Fulton, Jeannette, Tate-I can't much and all as I admire Sam's body of work.

 

this is true:good i think he could fit on a top 10 based on criteria. he obviously gets points for resume and h2h but consistency and achievement, small or not, are behind most of the top all time guys

 

Sonny Liston would have destroyed Sam Langford. Sam would have been dumbfounded to how long, powerful, active, and skilled Liston's jab was. Langford never saw anything like that in the early 1900s. I don't think Langford would have beaten Floyd Patterson. Patterson's combinations/speed would have tatooed a stationary Langford.

 

Dont forget colin bell!

Just looking quickly, 1910 and 1912 were the only years when Lamgford managed to beat every opponent. They were great opponents mostly, but surely the greatesst ever can manage a longer run, befoe someone forces a draw or wins a fight. I dont think you can mount an argument for langford as the GOAT.

P4P is obviously a different story, though i wouldnt have him at no 1.

 

you could be right, but there is an awful lot of draws and losses in there to explain away, as Matt mentioned. Remembering that we are comparing him to the greatest ever claims, meaning guys like Louis, Marciano, Ali, Sullivan, Holmes, Jeffries, Johnson. These guys all had long prime winning streaks and were never really beaten or drawn with when at their best and in their prime certainly no more than once or twice.

Of course to be fair to Langford it is possibly arguable that he was not always at his best for these times due to poor training for lesser fights.

Here is a question for any of the Langford fights which i have never really thought about. What was Langfords legacy making fight? By this, I mean which fight was seen as the biggest must win fight that was promoted to the hilt and where he made (or was expected to make) his statement that he was the no1 contender or even best in the world.

Johnson had a few Hart, burns and Jeffries particularly. Louis had the Schmelling rematch. Tyson had the Spinks fight, Ali Had Liston<Frazier, Foreman fights, Holyfield had Tyson, Lewis had Holyfield I etc. What was the big fight Langford had where people said wow, the winder of this fight will be no 1. McVey Langford in Fance for that make believe title maybe?

 

As much as I love Langford, I think you would have to very carefully craft the criteria for your rankings to get him in the top-10. Too many underwhelming performances at that weight class. And frankly, the film that survives of his era's heavyweight argues against their relevance latter fighters of that division.

 

Yeah, makes sense. That´s why someone like Aristoteles or Archimedes aren´t in the league of someone like Kepler or DaVinci who in turn aren´t in the same league as someone like Hawkins. Because context doesn´t mean anything.

 

Hawking either. :yep