Why did he never fight for a title? And why did he fight so long past prime even when he was going blind?
He certainly was a feared and avoided fighter. Jack Dempsey admited he ducked Langford saying "I said i feared no man but that wasn't true, i feared Sam Langford cause i knew hed flatten me." When Langford asked Jack Johnson for a title shot Johnson alledgly said "Sam im the only black man to have won the title and im going to stay the only black to have won it'." Johnson turned down an offer of 30k pounds, a large sum at the time to fight Langford in London. But even if he couldn't get a shot at the HW title he fought at several weight classes and it seems like he could have gotten a title fight at one of them.
Can you provide a source for the £30,000 offer please? Johnson was offered £5,000 to defend against Langford by Peggy Bettinson, the club Manager of The National Sporting Club in London, the premier venue in the UK at the time. This purse was offered whether he beat Burns or not. Both Johnson and Langford would have had to pay their own expenses to the UK At that time the $30,000 Burns asked for and received to defend against Johnson was a record breaking sum, a record that stood for some time. As an example Bettinson offered Johnson and Burns $12,500 to be divided between them for a title bout in Covent Garden London 4/5 to the winner 1/5 the loser.Johnson accepted the offer Burns did not.
can i just throw a question or two in here , i cant remember where but i read a while back that langfords best weight may of been around 168lbs is this so ? .also would this make hime him the best super-middleweight ever .
'Sam Langford, Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion' by Clay Moyle. It's a good read and contains great detail on Sam's career and life. I was impressed with the detail provided on Sam's career and individual fights and the circumstances surrounding each fight. I'd recommend it. I believe Moyle posts on here ocassionally.
It is not technicaly true that Langford never fought for a title. He fought Barbados Joe Walcott for the welterweight title at the age of 18 and got a draw (most reporters seem to have thought that he deserved the decision). Some sources also indicate that Langford could have claimed the light heavyweight title after he defeated Jack O'Brien, but he did not pursue the claim for whatever reason.
Because at that time the LHW title was fairly new and very lightly regarded. There was no money in claiming it.
so could we say that langford had at least SOME claim to beating the lightweight champion (gans), welter champion (walcott), middleweight champion (ketchel) and light heavyweight champion (o'brien)? 3 of those 4 were rated (for whatever it's worth) as the greatest ever in their weight class by nat fleisher. **** me...i'm starting to hate this guys resume