How well would Sam Langford do today?

Mayweather would duck him at 147. Crawford would avoid him after asking for an 80/20 purse split in Crawfishs' favor.
He'd beat both Charlos at 154...on the same day.
Canelo would fight him at 168 but in a 36' ring, and the dehydration clause would force him to abstain from eating and drinking for weeks prior to the fight. And would make him fight in 2021, meaning Langford would be 135 yrs old when the fight happens.
Beterviev would lose a UD.
Fury and/AJ would win UD's', Wilder would get knocked out.

 

If you are implying that they were less consumate professionals than their modern counterparts, then you are flat out wrong.

 

Who did he beat at HW?

How many losses does he have to Harry Wills? About 10?? From the footage ive seen of Wills he looks no better than Jessie Willard.

The skillset in the 1910s sucked. It doesn't matter what is written at the time because back then they never saw the skills of Walcot , Louis , Ali , Patterson.
The sweet science did not exist in those times. The limited footage of Langford shows a guy with no head movement and no inside game.
No feint and no ring IQ. . Guys like Regis Prograis and Gervonta have better command of the fundamentals.

 

Thats why he ended up blind in both eyes. . Toughness can't overcome a huge skill discrepancy. This man is flesh and blood like any other.
Enough stiff jabs and head twisting right hands from Sergey Kovalev will put the guy away eventually. .

 

Langford's boxrec record has 252 fights, and 1980 rounds. No wonder he took some damage, compare that to some modern fighters with long careers.

James Toney 92 fight 668 rounds
Manny Pacquiao 71 fights 486 rounds
Julio Cesar Chavez 115 fights 634 rounds

 

He was a madman . Fighting guys bigger than him to put patatoes on the table. Wouldn't happen in our time

 

You just proved you didn't watch him even for a moment. No feit? No ring IQ? Are you insane? No inside game? Head movement? A few hours ago you said that we don't even have any of his fight. Did you watch all of them after thesd hours?

 

Harry Wills is a top fifteen all time heavyweight.

Sam McVea is arguably top thirty.

Joe Jeanette and Gunboat Smith are in the top fifty argument.

As for your assertion that these guys look bad on film, unless you can back it up, it is just an assertion.

 

Whats his record against Harry Wills?

 

Among the many, many things asinine in the above post is that you have seen Wills and think nothing of him.

The only footage remaining of Harry is of him at the end of the line, trying to outwait Dempsey for a title shot.

 

It is irrelevant.

The series continued long after Langfords prime, while Wills was in his prime or improving, and degenerated into a farce latterly.

Sensible analysts, focus on the section of the series, where they were both major forces in the division.

Wills himself, thought that prime Langford was better than him!

 

Langford would have been a force to be reckoned with in any era, and he'd win some Lineal Titles in this era, in more than one weight class (IMHO, of course).

 

Some fighters are products of their eras, and others are abnormalities.

There has never been another champion like Tommy Burns, because a fighter like that would not have got to the top at heavyweight in later years.

That doesn't mean that there have not been other fighters like Burns.

There has never been another contender like Langford, because Langford really was a one off freak!

 

Think about this: Langford would possibly be competing as low as 126lbs due to the age he debuted at and the modern weight cutting methods. We know he was an exceptional early bloomer, considering how well he fought with Gans and the like. We also know of his incredible attributes (as Seamus stated) and how he developed an experienced, cagey style around them.

The man was as natural a fighter as you could get, and would be a monster around today's classes, especially the lower ones, assuming he got a good amount of experience. He would probably be ducked just like he was back in the day.

 

Also:

Sam Langford on steroids. Imagine