Is Sam Langford the most under rated heavyweight of all time head to head?

I believe it's their 1913 fight in France. Tough to say how much Langford really weighed for that bout, he was generally between 180 to 200 around that time. Looks like he had probably trained down for that fight which was billed as a world heavyweight title fight.

Johnson also fought Jeannette to a draw. A more experienced Jeannette would have been a tougher fight, and would have likely taken atleast one fight in a series of battles from Johnson.

McVea was only 19-20 years old, but his style played into Johnson's hands. McVea's size and power always kept him in a fight though.

I believe Langford felt he was fouled against Jackson, and quit when the referee wouldn't acknowledge his claims. Against Jeannette, Langford's eyes were badly swollen and he was forced to quit on his stool. He was rarely outright KO'd.

 

Thanks.
Whatever he weighed, he was a formidable heavyweight.

 

December 20, 1913 in Paris. Carpentier is introduced to the audience, and Jeannette would hand Carp his final defeat prior to Dempsey in March of 1914.

Langford-Jeannette IX in New York two months earlier saw Sam come in at 199-1/2. For Bill Watkins and Battling Jim Johnson the following March, he scaled 200. While it's possible Langford scaled down a bit for Jeannette X, to guesstimate he weighed 200 pounds for this 20 rounder is not an unreasonable extrapolation.

It's fortunate for us that Langford and Jeannette ventured to Europe, because the Johnson-Jeffries aftermath provoked ban on the interstate transport of boxing films in the US meant we never would have likely seen footage of these two in competition with one another.

Speaking of Jack Johnson, Lil' Artha' defended against the aforementioned Jim Johnson in Paris the previous day, so of course Langford-Jeannette was critical in a bid to attempt getting the reigning champion to defend his title against the winner. It must have seemed a real possibility to both with Jack finally having crossed the color line with Battling Jim.

 

Fair enough, i disagree about the extent of his power, but your reasons are sound.

I certainly agree that finishing technique more valuable than raw power.

 

Good fighting on the retreat .
McVey was not in any of the three fights with Johnson, he got a comprehensive hidng in each of them.
Clutching, Straws.Whatever.:hi:

 

Oh I understand now, I must not mention Langford's defeats when he was past prime.
But its okay for you to drone on about Jack Johnson struggling with Jim Johnson when he was nearly 36 years old, and beating Frank Moran at 36.Is that about it?
And If ,as you say Langford was in his prime in 1907, he was only 8 months short of it when Johnson gave him a one sided beating flooring him twice and breaking his nose, 6 months short of it when he was stopped by Young Peter Jackson,and in it when he was held to a draw with 10 fight Joe Jeannette.
If you are floored 16 times,[not counting the cartwheel he turned against Iron Hague ,]your chin is NOT elite.
From 1907 to 1916 eh? Which big punchers did he meet during this time?

 

Are you saying Langford was only floored 16 times ?
In all those fights !

Probably more. But his chin was certainly elite.

 

Moran was nothing special. The filmed fight between him and Johnson was very close. I have seen the majority of the filmed 20 rounds. As for the Jim Johnson fight, I think the news reads show us Jim Battling Johnson won the fight. Past your prime is not always age alone. A fighter's age has just as much if not more to do with how many fights he fought, blows he took, and the style which he fought. In Johnson case he wasn't very old at 35. In Langford's case he was.

How big of a punchers do you consider McVey, Jeanette, Wills, Smith, Kethcel, and Hauge? Langford has a ton of combined fights vs. them from 1907-1916. I checked box rec to see what Sam weight in 1907. He was still 165 pounds, but up about 10 since the 1906 loss to Johnson. Maybe Sam grew into his heavyweight body around 1908? My point was Langford fought a ton of big hitters, and was not stopped in his prime. Did Hauge catch him and floor him? Sure. I think Hauge at the time was at his best. A British venison of Tony Galento if you will. Hauge could hit.

 

Hague was a comparative novice ,he never stopped a top man ,in fact he never beat one.
Jewey Smith a short journeyman who was stopped over a dozen times went the 20 rds distance with Hague 3 times.Hague was one of the worst British champions.
Galento would murder Hague.
One was old one wasnt ? You make it up as you go along.
Johnson ,who you say had a weak chin, was not stopped in his prime either ,and he was not dropped as often as Langford,despite fighting McVey and Jeannette.
Langford is being rated here as a heavyweight, so no excuses as to his weight please.
I don't consider Wills a particularly big puncher,nor Jeannette, Hague was a lumbering ox.
I don't think the Ketchel fight was entirely kosher, so discount that one,and Smith's win over Langford is viewed with some suspicion too.
Langford met no more big hitters during this time than Johnson did, imo.


The news reads regarding the Johnson /Johnson fight are highly contentious, and a draw appears to have been a fair result.

 

if you are floored 16 times in a career of 250+ fights some of which happened against incredible opposition and some of the hardest punchers ever(some of which had a huge weight advantage), you have nothing to be ashamed of as far as beard goes.

 

He was that bad ?

 

Langford had a great chin. And, yes, if he was only floored 16 times that's an admirable statistic.

 

Have a look at the records of the men Hague stopped.
Hague was hyped , that I will give you.
Have you actually seen any footage of him fighting?
.