Modern Day Langford?

Infact pac himself has a good shout

Sasakul
Ledwaba
Mab
Marquez
Diaz
Hatton
Cotto

 

I had it a draw so have them 1-1-1. I agree though that jmm would beat him in a rematch.

Also agree gamboa would batter juanma.

 

You had the last one a draw?

And yes Pacman is the obvious shout. Flyweight (although he was huge!) all the way to, when you consider what Margarito would've weighed on the night, middleweight (by Langford's standards) so I'd say he is the only shout, and he's wholly less impressive than Sam

 

Yeah but I think jmm won his rounds clearer but it's not really reflected in the ten point must system. I think it was obvious to anyone watching that jmm was the superior boxer and in old money scoring it'd have likely been something along the lines of 6-2-4 so jmm takes it by 4 points but I think the close rounds were edged by pac.

It's an underrated trilogy in terms of action imo. All 3 were good fights.

The marg fight was a horrible cherry pick and was closer to ww than lmw. I don't class him as having any legacy above ww.

Gans
Walcott
Ketchel
O'brien
Wills.

Staggering that one man can have that resume.

 

I'm on about Margarito's fight day weight. In which he must've been closer to, or over, the middleweight limit.

 

Langford went from 140 to 200 pounds and beat guys like Joe Gans, Joe Walcott, Joe Jeanette, Stanley Ketchel, Sam McVea, Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, Gunboat Smith, Harry Wills and Tiger Flowers.

You could compare Langford and Greb, obviously, and also compare him to modern fighters like Duran, Jones or Pacquiao, that have moved in a 40 pound range during their careers. However, James Toney could also be a good choice, though he isn't so accomplished.

James Toney has moved from 160 to 235 pounds, beating the following: Michael Nunn, Mike McCallum, Iran Barkley, Vasily Jirov and Evander Holyfield. He's not so accomplished as Langford, but also moved in a vast range of weight.

Manny Pacquiao has not climbed 60 pounds, but he did climb 40: from 105 lbs to 145 lbs. He beat Barrera, Morales, JMM, Larios, Hatton, Margarito, Mosley, Cotto. I'm not counting old De la Hoya.

Still nobody comes close to Langford's accomplishment. I have some things to criticize about him, like figthing Jack Johnson while weighing 156 pounds or having too many loses. However, I rank him #2 or #3 of all time.

 

I go by opponents weights as to howhigh the fighters have gone, not their own weight. I think the opponent weight is their true level of ascension.

 

This is the nearest example in recent years.

There are two reasons why Langfords acomplishment is never likley to be matched.

Firstly, the fact that Langford was fighting at world level at the age of 17, dragged him into lower weight classes than he would have fought in today. Verry few fighters today, fight at world level in their teens, as profesionals.

Secondly, the larger purses available in the lower weight classes and array of divisions today, provide less impetus for a fighter to step up to weight classes where they will have to give up a lot of weight.

 

Thirdly, heavyweights were horrible back then.

 

Roberto Durad & Roy Jones