Prime Jack Dempsey v Prime Sam Langford

I'd lean towards Dempsey at the absolute height of his career to beat Langford...But this would be one of those types of fights where literally anything could happen. It can't be a fair assessment because of the limited amount of footage there is of Langford... Dempsey used footwork well overall...and had a quick strike capability that would help him get the better of exchanges. Langford it seemed fought more relaxed, changed speeds well on his punches...and both carried dynamite. Leans towards Dempsey to get off first...and win this.

 

Dempsey

 

From what I've read of Langford and what I do no about dempsey I would pick Jack, from but I can truthfully say I ve never seen any footage of Langford so only going by what knowledge I've gleamed from reading material. And not sure that s a fair assessment of a fighter..

 

Dempsey for me

 

Thanks mcvey. I'll have a good look at that. Always enjoy seeing fighters from long ago for the first time.

 

Scheduled for 45 round s. God those guys back then were made of some tough ****!

 

Dempsey's manager turned down a fight with Langford when Langford was well past his best. That says a lot.

In his prime ( 1909-1913 ) at 170-200 pounds, Langford was a very tough man to stop. He had great power and better stamina than Dempsey in my opinion. Also a better chin. And he beat better fighters, including Wills who was Dempsey #1 challenger for years by KO when Sam was past his best.

Watching Dempsey on film, he's hit too easily and handled too easily in clinches. Sharkey hurt him, Firpo floored him ( was it once or twice ? ) and Carpenter landed easily too. Tunney did a paint job on Dempsey. More concerningly for Dempsey fans, he was being out boxed by Brennan, who really was not a top level talent until coming back late to finish him.

Langford did not have much defense on the outside either! But I like him to win here based on what I have seen on film and read in fight reports.

It would have been a heck of a fight.

 

Actually the opposite is true, Dempsey held his own in the clinches against much bigger/supposedly stronger men in Willard and Firpo for example. True, Sharkey hurt Dempsey but don't forget that Dempsey's legs were practically gone at this point. Firpo floored Dempsey once and knocked him out of the ring because Dempsey fought Firpo's fight in order to prove he was the stronger, better brawler let's not forget that Firpo was floored 9 times himself. Dempsey would have had Carpentier out of there in the first round if he was let out of the cage sooner. Most of all, Dempsey was not being outboxed by Brennan. Of the 11 minutes we have of the 36 minute fight, Brennan is fighting like a scared chicken. Every time Dempsey so much as blinks, Brennan jumps out of range and avoids any kind of attack. He wasn't trying to fight he was trying to survive. From the newspaper sources I have read, Dempsey would have gotten the decision had it gone to the cards.

 

Willard did that at the end of the clinch when they were separating. I can only surmise that it was a way of saying "Hey, I'm not clinching" or something along those lines in an arrogant sort of way which was Willard's attitude up until and during the first minute of the fight. As if he was trying to show off a sort of machismo.

 

I always thought that too...I think Willard was so overconfident that he thought he could beat Dempsey at anytime...and Dempsey went into the fight with a kill or be killed mindset...