Harder Puncher- Sam Langford or Bob Fitzsimmons?

Verry hard to say but they both had the power to knock superheavyweights silly with a single punch or combination.

What I will say is that Fitzsimmons was the more economical finisher of the two while Langford posed the greater all round threat to an oponent. Fitzsimmons would wait for you to make a mistake while Langford would force you to make one.

 

i think langford ha dthe bigger punch

but

fitzimmons placed his shots better especially to the body

 

Do we need to know?? After all those years.
Is it really important in 2009.

Woller

 

it is the classic forum after all

 

I think in terms of precision they were about on a par but they used it diferently.

Fitzsimmons was a classic executioner. He almost invariably finished his oponent with a single punch or combination, set up with a feint or by a mistake on the oponents part.

Langford was also something of an executioner but he deployed it diferently.

Fitzsimmons leaned back and countered untill he could force/exploit a mistake. Langford went to the body and presured his oponent untill he either forced a mistake or they gave him an opening.

 

I don't dispute that Fitz had serious power,but apart from Ed Dunkhorst 260lbs, most of it lard,and whose record was 13-8-5, which super heavyweights did Fitz knock silly with a single punch ? Peter Maher whom Fitz kod twice weighed 178,and 180 respectively,name a superheavy Fitz kod? Sam in contrast stopped big men like Wills and Godfrey,so he is the more proven at the top level ,imo.I know Jeffries had a chin like Lamotta ,but Fitz hit him all night and could not budge him .Jack Johnson described Fitz as a fighter that could "knock your brains out",but he never did it against a real superheavy.

 

Dunkhorst was only made "mostly of lard" when he was 300 lbs.

At 260 lbs he was probably like Hasim Rhaman at a similar weight.

Jeffris chin was almost Chuvaloesque.

 

It's a given we are talking about two of the all time greatest pound for pound hitters and while it is impossible to say for sure you have to lean to Langford based on opponents and volume of ko's ...

 

That is my conclusion also.

A thousand years could pass and you might never get another fighter like him.

 

No he wasn't ,Dunkhorst was a fat pudding when at his best, I have pics of him in ring attire he is about as prepossesing as I am ,and I'm 60. J ,I'm not disputing Fitz's power,just that your statement about it was rather sweeping . I do think Fitz's placement of punches was quite exceptional.
This is by Edgar Lee Masters who saw many of Fitz's fights.Against Dunkhorst." Ed Dunkhorst, was the Carnera of his day.When the two stepped into the ring,it looked like a fight between a grasshopper and a rat.You can well suppose that if Dunkhorst's weight had sent a blow to fiz's jaw that Fitz would have gone down. Why not ? Dunkhorst must have weighed towards 300lbs[260].But Fitz allmost murdered this huge slugger,as he waltzed around Dunkhosrt ,planting terrible punches that made Dunkhorst grunt and double up." Fitz against Jeff Thorne the Champion of South Africa." There had been so much talk about Fitz's short punch , a kind of corkscrew it was,that I was very glad of the chance to see him use it on this Jeff Thorne. I wanted to see how it was that Fitz could put a man down so he could not get up. In this connection you must admit that many champions didn't put their men down so that they couldn't get up; they wore them out,or cut them to pieces, or covered them with blood and bruises,or put them down as Dempsey put Tunney down-who got up Fitz put them down for good.He did it with Corbett and many others."The opening round. "Fitz ambled over to the centre of the ring, and there met Thorne , coming on fast ,full of fight and striking out viciously over and over.He tried for Fitz's jaw.Fitz lifted up one of those huge shoulders,and sent the blow harmlessly to one side. He tries for Fiz's stomach,Fitz just drew in his stomach, and the blow fanned air.Meantime Fitz did not strike a blow;and meantime I was watching every movement with concentrated eyes. The round ended with no damage, Thorne had not hit Fitz ,Fitz had not tried to hit Thorne. I was wondering ,what cunning plan Fitz was nursing in that small bald head of his, I was watching to see the famous corkscrew.
Well the second round with Thorne after Fitz, as in the first round ,to no result! Then they got close together,I looked and I watched.Fitz twisted a short blow to Thorne which caught him on the chin. The blow was not over 6 inches in delivery_ but what a sock! You could tell that from the way that Thorne crumpled.He sank down to the resin. Malachy counted him out.He did not get up.He lay there limp and helpless . Malachy ,with the help of some others, carried him to his corner. When he was put in to his chair, his head fell over on to his breast . They rubbed him with amonia. They sprayed champagne on him.Still he did not come to. He was dead to the world. I wish I had held a watch on all this.But it was a good dealmore than 18 seconds,it seemed to me several minutes beforeThorne awoke to the realities. He had received one of Fitz's twists from those python-like arms" .

 

To answer your question, Sam Langford hit harder.

Back in his day, Langford was the earnie shavers of his era. he is complimented the exact same way as shavers is today/and in his day, for his punching power.

even though he is only 5'6, Sam Langford could hit harder than guys who were twice as big as him. some ppl think the reason why langford ko'd alot of superheavies is becos he was a sneaky puncher, and his opponents didnt see the punch coming, that is true but when his opponents talk about his punching power, they rate him #1. he was a geniune power puncher with heavy hands like a shavers.
Fireman jim flynn (who beat dempsey in the 1st round of their first fight and also lost in the 1st round of their 2nd fight) complimented Langford as being the hardest puncher he ever faced, i havent got the exact quotes with me at the moment. thats a big compliment as he had fought huge punchers like dempsey, big guys like fred fulton.


harry wills a 6'3 giant who ppl claim dempsey feared and avoided, said that langfords punches were the most powerful he had ever taken.
he said he was stopped only 3 times in his 105 fight career.
one of them was towards the end of his career, he was still concious.
but when langford flattened him, he was out cold and the 2nd time he out cold for over an hour i believe. wills claimed that everyone else's punches compared to langfords were a slap from a women.

gunboat smith who had also faced men like dempsey, said something similar, he said that he wasnt the same after he faced langford, and complimented his punching power.

iron hague, a british fighter who was known for his durabilty, was flattened with an absolute brutal right hand, which lifted hague of his feet, and left him stretched out cold. ringsiders were astonished with the power this fella could generate. comparisons were being made with gorillas.
when hague came around, he went looking for langford, when he saw sam, he asked him how the heck could he put so much power into his punches, he couldnt believe that this little fella could punch the way he could.
Hague was never the same after this vicious loss, he started losing to ppl he beat before.

Imo, Sam Langford could punch just as hard or harder than guys like Shavers or foreman, im not talking p4p power either.. The amount of positive reviews sam recieved about his power from his opponents is one thing but just look at the way he was built.

his back is huge! look at his shoulders. this guy was a lumberjack in his teen days. he had big legs too. he wasnt a small guy. he;s built like a quarter back.

Imo opinion, sam langford as a puncher is up there with guys like Shavers and Foreman.