Langford Tyson

I agree, he could KO him. Easily.

 

Tyson by early KO.

 

Yep, give me Langford

 

No, not enough size.

 

Tyson by stoppage inside of 6.

 

There is some logic to what you are saying.

Langford basicaly had a finishers chance against anybody especialy if they came straight at him.

Some aspects of this match up would give him problems however.

 

Tyson in the first

 

I will add that this might be more of a game of cat and mouse than people think.

Langford would use his mobility to outmanouver Mike and set up punching angles. Tyson in turn would be forced to use his own footwork.

 

You do realise that Langford had one of the best chins in boxing history.

 

I dont think Tyson would be able to get off with as many punches against quality men who were shorter than him. Tyson was used to fighting taller men, with men of 6'2 or 6'3 being his ideal targets. His blitzkreig attacks were largely based on him slipping past the taller guy's range and exploding from underneath at mid-range. He was devastating at it. But it doesn't translate to a workable style of assault on shorter stocky guys.

So, even before we consider Langford's own considerable strengths and attributes, I reckon he presents quite an awkward target, a bit of a puzzle. And he's a bona fide terror in his own right.
So it's an interesting fight.

 

Eh, disagreed.

Damn good chin, but you don't get stopped 9 times if you have a truly elite chin, one of the best of all time.

It doesn't matter much if he was going blind in my opinion. It inhibited him in many ways, sure. But Greb was going blind too and and there are only 15 fights between Langford and Greb.

Langford was stopped at numerous times in his career, beginning and end. Can't say the same of Greb, who also certainly never matured into the specimen that Langford was.

 

Time machine Sam from 1912 to 1988, I'd put him a definite underdog. However, Sam did KO quality heavies -- McVey, Wills -- of about Tyson's size. So an upset is certainly possible.

Sam and Mike coming along at the same time, hard to call.

 

anyone who faced sam, said he was the hardest puncher they ever faced. he was the shavers of his day no doubt (just look at his back). he also possessed a toney like chin. he got stopped when he got older and blind.

i dont see langford running as he had the power to keep tyson worried. he fought like toney, with the skills of toney too. however he was more aggresive.

i say this fight can go either way, but becos of sam's mental strength/boxing skills/toughness and brutal punching power i say langford wins.

 

A couple of observations.

Langfords stopage losses have to be taken in the context of his hectic schedule. Although Harry Greb had a similarly hectic schedule it should be noted that a good portion of Langfords fights were agaqinst guys who were esentialy modern superheavyweights without the steroids (Wills, McVea Tate etc).

Although Langford had a few stopage losses nobody ever copunted 10 over him untill 1918 when he was prety much a shell.

I would also draw your atention to this newspaper clipping from one of the McVea fights:

“At the start McVea got his short left hook working, and he was continually landing it on Langford’s face, jaw and stomach. His right he shot across many times effectively. So fast did McVea work that in one of the rounds he hooked Langford five times to the jaw and face in quick succession, not getting a return. McVea also used a jolting right uppercut. In one round it brought Langford’s teeth together so hard it sounded as of a bone had been snapped.”

The Boston Globe (Jun 30)

McVea was one hell of a puncher incidentaly. In one Rocky IV style punch test he is purported to have registered a higher score than Wladamir Klitschko.