Unpopular Opinion.Burns Gives Langford A Great Fight?

No I don't think your mistaken at all really.
He had enough skill and grit to make it highly competitive.
Id say it's a tough fight with Sam getting a close decision or a late stoppage ( depending on the length of the fight)

 

Burns was good enough where if they fought a bunch of times there would be some good fights. Burns would get a KD here and there that leads to nothing. But Burns would also get destroyed plenty.

 

Hello, mcvey.
I do not think you are wrong. I would be a pretty good fight. I WOULD make Sam Lanford the favorite to win.

 

Tommy's wife, Gracie, was actually a very accomplished chef, many people don't know. She had a special method she developed for roasts, whereby she would put a regular-sized roast in the oven, but only accompanied by a 75%-sized roast, or 75% of the regular size. Then, when the 75% roast began to burn, she knew that the regular-sized roast was then perfectly done. Sam Langford used to enjoy roasts of beef, for some context and some fun historical facts related to the thread, thank you.

 

Potentially he could have, especially in the realistic timeframe.

 

Was Burns any worse than Young Peter Jackson, Joe Jeanette, Jim Flynn, Colin Bell, Gunboat Smith, or Jim Johnson? Probably not. So if he was as good as they were and they were all able to beat or draw with a prime Langford then Id give Burns a decent shot prime for prime.

 

A few things to remind you.
"Draws" in this era mostly did not meet today's definition of a draw.

Gunboat Smith was ATG level for like 2 years and pretty much forgot how to fight after that. Also Gunboats win was considered a "robbery". The whole group you are listing are generally fantastic. I'd pick Colin Bell to beat Joseph Parker.

Langford was a teen when he fought Young Peter Jackson.

Most of "boxing evolution" happened between 1905-1915 so Langford at the end of this period was on a totally different level then when he started. As was Jeanette as was Jim Flynn as was anyone who was good in 1905 who was still around.

 

I’d favour Langford but it could well be a nice barn burner for as long as it lasted.

Physically, Burns was the Caucasian version of Sam with Tommy carrying his own measure of pop.

A fight between the two would’ve been a Canadian local derby. Canada FTW.

 

There were a lot of smaller(under 6 ft) guys with power in this era. This was the golden age of that archetype. Burns was not the only one.

So far as white MW/HW power punchers go I think Schreck was better than Burns and Langford beat him easily. Root if he stuck around. Ketchel in a small sample size had HW power.

Iron Hague didn't really get a chance to prove it because he stuck to the British scene but I think he might have been better than Burns. Remember he actually knocked Langford down in their title fight.

 

Tommy was fearless, game as the day is long and had offensive weapons. He certainly would have provided a better effort than Ketchel IMO.

 

As the post just preceding mine stated, I think Burns would’ve provided as far stiffer competition for Sam than Ketchel did - and that was a cuffed Sam at it was.