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

Yeah, him. My fault, sorry. I feel embarassed now.

 

You're a good man, Brother Bodhi. That said, this is why you should not read the Bavarian version of Daily Mail. This is what happens.

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Thanks. There is no Bavarian Daily Mail though, just a Bavarian Sun. :roll:

 

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Dear Niko, it's worse than I thought.

 

I live in Berlin though. :thumbsup

 

Number of underwhelmig performences is a function of the level of opposition that you fight, and the frequency with which you fight.

 

I agree, that's one way to put forward an argument. I say no to both questions, I know his record and all, but only a fool ignores video evidence. There is no film of a prime WW or MW Langford though, only as fairly puffed up HW. I see on film still a terrific fighter, but the GOAT ??... I just don't see brilliance on the scale of Willie Pep or SRR and therefore I don't have him above them and as we are talking only #1 GOAT,... thank god I don't have to do a list...... cos I don't feel like it.

 

If someone comes up of film of say Langford V Gans or Walcott or when he was a MW,.. then maybe I might change my mind,... I like Langford a lot.

 

here is some evidence that the 6 round no decision bout with klondike haynes may have actually been a drawn fight. It does seem to indicate inconsistency, considering langford would ko him easy a month or two later.

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/l...ike&y=2&x=24&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=3

 

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/l...ike&y=2&x=24&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=2

actually , this article has Klondike (middleweigjt conender) as the main mention in their fight.

 

Looking into my own question here, but it seems that langford Flynn III was actually pretty decent sized. This is very interesting, becaise it indicates in that Flynn won the last 9 rounds of their previous fight. Meaning that arguably, Flynn has a victory over Langford and dempsey!

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/l...lynn&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=2

And here is an article on the lead up to Langford flynn II showing it seemed to be a pretty big fight. Interestingly though, the article refers to Jim Barry having a victory over langford. More serious inconsistency at the top end.
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/l...lynn&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=5

Flynn Jeffries III was definitely big with 10000 people attending. Interesting that Flynn turned into a wwf style fight after being KOd and tried to fight his own corner once revived.

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/l...lynn&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=6

 

Langford is definitely entitled to a spot in the top 5 P4P
I don't see him in the top 5 at heavyweight and, probably not in the top 10.

He would be dangerous for many or the top tier champs, such as Dempsey,Marciano,Louis, but I see Ali, Holmes ,Lewis conclusively out boxing him

We will probably never know the truth of Langford's spotty performances he was often overweight and, likely on the cuffs a few times,the Smith first fight is a case in point.

A few of Sam's fights with his black contemporatries are also believed to have been relatively passive affairs.

Fast mobile boxers with good, accurate jabs ,and long reaches .would appear to have been something of an achilles heel to the 5'6" Langford.

And, whilst they were possibly comparatively rare in his day , there have been an abundance of them in the last 30/40 years.

A great, great fighter who ranks with Greb,SRR,Armstrong,Fitz ,and whoever else you think belongs in the pantheon of p4p's, but maybe not a truly top flight Heavy?

 

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/l...boat&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&index=4

This article seems to explain his inconsistency, he really does remind me of an old time version of Toney, though with a much bigger KO punch

 

I dont see any way he could be regarded as the greatest heavyweight. I still struggle to see how some people have him as their P4P greatest.

 

It is easy too see why he's so well liked, I like him too, for me it's between Pep and SRR,, I have a soft spot for Gans and benny leonard