Langford had 2 world title reigns at HW. The first one was lasted to June 1909 and ended in April 1911 when the British transferred recognition to Billy Wells. After which Langford briefly went down to LHW. Langfords 2nd reign started in December 1913 and petered out due to WW1. Langfords claim fully ended with the Fulton loss. While there are sources that some of Langfords fights were considered title fights namely Langford v Lang this is more about what fights should be considered title defenses within the parameters above. The determing factor being the number of rounds a fight was planned for and whether the opponent deserves a title shot at that specific fight. After the Jeanette loss in April 1915 the rest of the list is operating under the idea belts can only change hands by stoppage or in a longer fight. A popular notion at the time. So I sectioned that off. Reign 1 1109 R6 KO Schreck 0210 R10 Loss Fireman Jim Flynn(NWS) 0310 R45 KO Fireman Jim Flynn 0410 R6 Ketchel 0410 R25 KO Jim Barry 0910 R15 Jeanette 0211 R20 KO Bill Lang 0411 R20 McVea Reign 2 1213 R20 Jeanette 0114 R20 KO Curran 1014 R12 TKO Colin Bell 1014 R12 KO Gunboat Smith 1114 R20 TKO Tom McMahon 1114 R20 KO Wills Reign 2 continued 0415 R12 Loss Jeanette 0615 R12 Loss McVea 0715 R15 TKO Jack Thompson(Thompson is undefeated) 0915 R20 Draw Sam McVea 1015 R15 Jim Johnson 0116 R20 Loss Wills 0216 R20 Wills 0516 R12 Draw McVea 0816 R20 Draw McVea 1216 R12 KO Jim Johnson 0117 R12 Loss Bill Tate 0517 R12 KO Bill Tate 0617 R12 KO Loss Fulton Reign 2 continued alternative 0715 TKO Jack Thompson 0915 R20 McVea 1015 R15 Jim Johnson 0216 R20 Wills 0816 R20 Draw McVea
Which organizations considered Wells a world champion? Apart from the French Federation who recognized Langford as world champion for 2 weeks, who else who did?
The NSC. The same organization that gave Langford his belt for beating the same dude. Wells won the Commonwealth belt in his next fight. There were some other British claims from Moir and Curran but Wells eventually unified them all. The IBU was a French dominated organization founded by France and Belgium. Early non French IBU champions were British, American or in Langfords case Canadian. After WW1 this changed and all of Western Europe got the boxing bug but at this point it was a French vehicle to compete with the Anglo countries. It was the IBU not the EBU and the "International" was actually meant to refer to Frances colonies. As the French were envisioning a 2nd version of the structure the British had built. Since our last talk and digging further I've found the IBU recognized Langford as LHW champ from May 1913 for 6 and a half years. While Langford won the dormant LHW lineal title in 1911 he never actually fought at LHW during this period. So one could just take that recognition and apply to it to HW anyway. Maybe it was a clerical error and they wrote "Light" by mistake. Other note not every title had a tramp stamp from a formal organization. The Australian title might have been run by the NSC in some way but I cannot find a seperate Australian "organization" in that era despite the Aussy title being a huge deal. Same with South America there was a South American title but not the SABU. Besides the NSC Boxing was following the chess model where anyone could claim anything and it was on the fighters and their teams to sort it all out. The IBU, NYSAC and ABA were departing from the mold here.
The NSC did not recognize title fights held outside their own auspices. I can find no record of the NSC recognizing either Langford or Wells as a world's champion.
https://titlehistories.com/boxing/world/unlineal/unlineal-world-h.html Per the source "Billed as American champion, defeats English champion William Ian Hague, substituting for the world champion Jack Johnson; originally scheduled for the English Title, but Langford is recognized as the world champion by NSC after the match (Jersey Independent and Daily Telegraph, Saint Helier, Jersey, ENG, GBR, 09-07-03); also holds the world middleweight title." https://titlehistories.com/boxing/eu/gbr/gbr-h.html "Loses to Sam Longford on 09-05-24 in London, ENG but claims the match is for the world title and he is still the English champion (Leed Mercury, 09-05-29)." Its a struggle to find sources explicity stating a title is world or subordinate this early because every title was still regional in nature. Despite this Hague could not be any clearer that this was intended to be a world title fight.
Thanks appreciate it. The 1910s are a fascinating time with the ABCs getting started war and a bunch of obscure claimants. Lots of historical digging to be done.
