How good was Sam Langford?

Well he’s potentially the GOAT so I assume he’s pretty good at a lot of things.

 

People tell me he was alright.

 

A lot of people have him as the P4P GOAT or top 5-10 at least

 

OK, not to be flippant...

We only have so much footage of him. From that footage we can tell that he moved very well, was very aggressive while being perfectly balanced and able to fire shots with few to no tells, was quick from fist to target, had a full arsenal of straights, hooks, uppercuts, hit like a ton of bricks, didn't get phased when under attack, had an S-load of dog in him, was supremely confident and emanated that... He looks really freakin' good.

From his record we know that he ran the divisions from lightweight to heavyweight, took some more defeats as he got older but still took out some apex heavies. His best division? Perhaps middleweight or lightheavy. But bottomline; he had the attributes to succeed at the highest level in any era, namely the ability to give it and the ability to take it. And he had these attributes in spades.

 

i second this. Sam is an ATG. Probably top 5 pound for pound for me.

 

He was as good as it gets.

You could say that he was the greatest Queensbury fighter that ever drew breath, and some informed people would disagree with you, but they would understand where you were coming from.

 

I can't really add to the conversation here, as I'm not even half as schooled as the majority of posters here, but I did work with Sam Langford's great relative (great grand nephew maybe? If that's even a thing) at Ben's Bakery in Halifax Nova Scotia, and he was the strongest man I've ever encounter. He also had incredibly long arms, and even though he was in his sixties, remained extremely muscular without much exercise.

 

Sounds like Sam. A total unit.

 

Yes he was one of the very best of all time period. A legend's legend.

 

@djanders (RIP) met THE Sam Langford… his dad went to several of his fights too, would you tell us more about this relative of Sam’s how’d he come to tell you? Are they well aware of how “regal” Sam Langford is held by boxing folks? Were you the one to break it to them they might be related to (debatably) the greatest boxer of all time?

 

I met a man who claimed to have sparred Willie Pep and he was just “a guy” wonder how many people are walking around deaf to there “history” he didn’t seem to think it was a big deal but I went bananas with the questions lol.

 

My view on him: It would not surprise me to learn someday that Sam Langford had over 500 confirmed fights, and many of those bouts were after he was legally blind, by today's standards. I think he is currently listed at over 300 fights. At about 5 feet 7 inches tall, he fought World Class Boxers and World Champions from Lightweight to Heavyweight, and won more than his share. If, in the company of the Worlds Top 50 Competent Boxing Historians, you stated you rank Sam Langford in the top 10 of All-Time HEAVYWEIGHTS, you might get a few raised eyebrows, but nobody in that group would snicker. If you said you rank him as the number 1 of All-Time Pound-for-Pounder, you would see a lot of nodding heads. I believe he would have been a great boxer in any era, and a Lineal World Champion in more than one weight class, in most eras. It is not a question of how good was he? It is more a question of a how GREAT was he, or even was he the best ever?

 

I had no awareness while I was working with him that he was related to Sam Langford. We never talked boxing, and he has some cognitive issues due to a head injury (struck in the head with a baseball bat, had a brain bleed or aneurysm, but survived). He was very stoic and would only really speak in brief sentences, not sure if it was due to his disposition, the head injury, or both. I took his Facebook photo and helped him set up an account. It was on Facebook, when I had already left that job, where I saw him post a link sbout Langford, and went into detial about his relationship to him. I commented something along the lines of what an honor that would be, and he simply reiterated that he was his great relative. The only other thing I can tell you about him is that he is from Weymouth NS and his surname is "Pleasant".