I know nothing about those days in boxing and I was intrigued by reading this post over on the general boxing forum: Did he REALLY go from 135 to KOing heavies??? How is it even possible for a man who once weighed 135 to KO a HW? I went to wikipedia and found that he was 5 ft 6 1⁄2 in (1.69 m) and weighed 185 lb (84 kg) in his prime and that he fought at 142 for a WW title when he was 21. If this guy was 5 6 and 185 and KOing HWs, what did a HW weigh in those days and how tall was he?
Best advice you can be given is to buy clay moyle's book Sam Langford - boxing's greatest uncrowned champion
Arguably the greatest fighter of all time. Also one of the most avoided. He did indeed fight as a teenager down at around the lightweight limit, and he did indeed KTFO some of the very best heavies of a stacked era.
From the sanctuary of boxing's history : vs Jack Blackburn : vs George Cole : vs Luther Manual : I believe that if I knew more, I would have known about more fixed fights, but time does not work in favor of truth research.
Langford fought at 135 lbs as an amateur in January 1902. The lowest known weight for him as a pro was 140 lbs vs Joe Gans (weigh-in at 3 PM, several hours before they entered the ring).
He was of course brilliant in accomplishment, and in the small amount of film I've seen, ranks right up there as being head-to-head one of the bigger stylistic nightmares I could imagine. Not sure what one could do to keep him off them.
Harry Wills reccomended a crack on the skull with a bat from behind, and when he turned around in surprise, crack him again. Harry's last word: don't miss the second swing.
He's career poison, that guy. Can't imagine anyone with a promising career in front of them saying "Yeah, sure; sign him up, I'll fight him. Fine." **** that.
Langford was one of the best fighters of his day. Not the best ever in any weight class, though - certainly not the best fighter who "ever" lived. Langford beat many big names, but he also lost to quite a few ordinary guys, too, which is understandable given the era and how many times he fought and the radically different size men he faced. Bill Tate - a journeyman - was Langford's "Ken Norton" for lack of a better description. (Although Tate wasn't as good as Norton. More like a Jesse Ferguson.) Tate lost to everyone, but he and Langford fought nine times, and Tate went 4-4-1 against him. Obviously, some styles (Tate's for example) gave him a lot of problems. A fairly young Jack Johnson successfully defended his "Colored" heavyweight title against a young Langford (and Johnson won convincingly) before Johnson won the "world" title. When Johnson was in his prime, in 1912, he supposed to defend his world title against Langford. In October that year, just after his wife committed suicide, Johnson told a reporter he was offered $55,000 to fight Langford in Sydney on Boxing Day (Dec. 26). He said he also had an offer to fight Sam McVea (also in Australia) after that, and then he planned to fight Jim Flynn for a third time and finish by coming back to the States to fight Luther McCarty. But with his wife's death, those plans went out the window. White America wanted Johnson’s head and the champ kept getting arrested. After his quick marriage to another white woman, black America had turned on him. By the time Johnson managed to flee the country and get to Canada and then Europe, all the original offers were off. Maybe, given Johnson's state of mind, Langford would've had a chance if they’d fought at the end of 1912. Who knows. Compared to a modern-day fighter, Langford might be described as a slightly larger version of Manny Pacquiao - who is considered a great fighter in this era. I make that comparison because you can't ID Manny as the best ever in any weight class, but he was among the best in all of the divisions he fought in at the time. Langford was kind of like that, too. Langford's name shows up on a lot of different lists because people want to show respect to him, but including him always seems to cause a stir because you can't easily or naturally fit him in any one weight class. Top fighter. One of the best of his day, but hard to categorize. He was an original.
"Bill Tate - a journeyman - was Langford's "Ken Norton" for lack of a better description. (Although Tate wasn't as good as Norton. More like a Jesse Ferguson.) Tate lost to everyone, but he and Langford fought nine times, and Tate went 4-4-1 against him." For whatever it's worth, Langford didn't face Tate for the first time until November of 1916 when Langford was well past his prime. He fought Tate three times before permanently losing the sight in one eye in his contest with Fulton On June 19, 1917. So all his contests with Tate thereafter were fought as a one-eyed fighter.
Clay, your biography of Sam Langford I have, is a helluva book...Until reading your book on Tham, I thought I knew much about him, but I was mistaken. This is one boxing book I will not lend out, and never receive back for sure...