Would Langford Be Badly Beaten BY Modern Heavies?

Langford had power. Some would say crippling.

From his compact 5'6 frame with one shot, he could knock out anybody but it would be harder for him to do it with one shot. He doesn't bring the force weight of a puncher like Foreman, Shavers, Lewis or Liston but it surely hurts when it lands.

The key to Sam winning is taking advantage of his lack of height and working the body underneath to bring their hands down. Then land big shots on top. This is his best way to win against the bigger men of the sports Circling, crouching, moving, attacking off the angles and keeping a jab honest to set up the right hands.

 

What makes you so sure?

 

Without looking it up, Langford was the lone man to stop Joe Jeanette, and was considered a deadly hitter. Films of him KO'ing Flynn and Wells show this.


Langford also Ko'd Wills, and Godfrey, who would not be miscast as small men in the heavyweight division.


But I still don't think Langford hit as hard as Lewis, Shavers, Liston, or Foreman. A level below, but what Sam had was great stamina...he carried his power into the later rounds. Not all punchers have good stamina. Sam's left hook was a genuine game changer when it landed.

 

This.

And I would say that his chances against someone like Chisora or Povetkin would be decent.

 

I suspect Janitor deliberately trolls and doesn't believe half of what he writes

 

Just like you used to be.

 

Langford doesn't carry the same weight of force behind his punches like a heavier man such as Foreman or Lennox Lewis. Even Shavers, Lyle and Liston.

He doesn't have the body mass.

For pure power, Sam might be just as comparable to the sports hardest hitters ever.

 

Langford beats them all including the Klitschkos. He was ripped off against jack Johnson For **** sake. Who then avoided him like the poms avoid showering.

 

wlad = cautious defence and jabs for 12 rd UD

vitali, helenius = tough and big enough to muscle a victory but not every time

haye = quick and big puncher but could be hurt by langford, haye betting fav

chisora = tough and limited enough to be an even fight

fury = langford ko

only modern h/ws i watched much of.

 

You might find that the people who write the biographies on these fighters, align more with my views than with the consensus on this forum.

 

Fireman Flynn

“I fought most of the heavyweights, including Dempsey and Johnson, but Sam could stretch a guy colder than any of them. When Langford hit me it felt like somebody had slugged me with a baseball bat. It was like taking ether. You just went to sleep.”

“If you ask me, Il say that the hardest hitter I ever went up against was Sam Langford”.

Gunboat Smith

On being asked who was the best he ever fought (he fought Dempsey and Wills).

“That’s an easy one. Sam Langford and nobody came close to being as good as he was at his peak”

“Langford vs Dempsey both in their prime would have been bad news for Dempsey. He could be hit with a right hand and if anybody had a right hand it was the tar baby. I will go further and declare that Langford would have waded through every heavyweight champion we’ve had including the current soldier boy Joe Louis. Louis is a great champ, but he is inclined to get hot and bothered when the going gets rough. Langford was as cool as an iceberg every minute that he was in there. He never lost his head.”

Joe Jeanette

“Sam would have been champion any time Johnson would have given him a fight and Johnson knew it better than anybody”

“How that baby could hit. Nobody else could hit like that. Well, maybe Joe Louis could but Sam only weighed 160lbs. Joe Louis was about 195.”

Jack Blackburn

“My boy (Joe Louis) is still two years removed from his prime. By then I will have him in Langford’s class.”

Joe Williams

On being asked how Sam Langford would do against Joe Louis.

“Just too much of a fighter. There wasn’t anything Sam couldn’t do and if he had a weakness then nobody ever found out what it was. I have plenty of respect for Joe Louis as a hitter, but I can’t see him hitting Sam hard enough to make him mad”
Harry Wills

“He was a real professional, the kind of fighter you’d like to be but know that however hard you try you’ll never make it. Sam never made a mistake, he always held command and when he knocked me out in New Orleans, I thought I had been killed.”
“He was marvellous as a fighting man, I'd venture to say unbeatable in his prime.”

John L Sullivan

“Jim Jeffries has gone to the place that forbids him from facing a young strong fellow like Jack Johnson and he will never enter the ring again. Sam Langford is the worlds best and he can trim Johnson, Ketchel, Papke and the rest one after the other. Johnson knows this and is sidestepping his fellow fighter at every turn of the road.”

 

bears some thought. i don't see him beating wlad but at worst going 50/50 with the rest of the top 10, more likely beats most.