Sam Langford fought William "Iron" Hague on May24th 1909. Langford received his biggest career purse for this fight..There is one poster on this forum who claims to have seen this bout. Since we have some recent additions to our membership ,I thought I would enquire if any of them claim to have seen it? I myself once thought I had.I'd bought a video collection entitled Ring Classics as a present for a friend ,it was several volumes,one of the first had two Lanford fights on it .One was Langford v Flynn, the other, the one I mistakenly remembered as Langford v Hague,was in fact Langford v Bill Lang. I got into a heated debate with Steve Compton,["Klompton" on here ,] the Harry Greb biographer and fight film collector about it, I claiming I'd seen the fight, he stating I couldn't have because no copies had survived the last 50 odd years. I contacted the friend whom I had given the video to,[he lives in North Wales,] only to be told it was Lang and not Hague on the footage. I then had to eat humble pie and admit I was wrong.I made a thread entitled just that,ie "I Was Wrong". The poster who claims to have seen this fight is still adamant that he has, and cites another poster,and a well respected one at that Mr Ted Spoon as saying he has also seen the fight in question. I duly pm'd Ted only to be told that he has never seen the fight and cannot think where this other guy got the impression that he had from? I asked Ted's permission to mention this here, and he readily gave it. The nameless poster still says that not only has he seen the fight but that Ted told him he had. To round off this lengthy ramble Id just like to ask the newer members who joined after this debate if any of them have watched the fight? I've read the fight report and two things that were singular to this fight occurred ,one just before the referee's instructions and one when Hague scored a knockdown. IMO If anyone had seen the fight these two occurrences would stick in your mind I asked the nameless poster if he could recall any particular events that happened that could be classed as out of the ordinary,he said no. I haven't put a name to the poster who claims to have seen the fight,because I don't want a slanging match ,I'm just seeking any additional information from those of our newer members.Thanks.
I'm not a new member mate and the era isn't my strong point either but I have it on good authority that the fight doesn't exist from two trusted sources. One is a fellow boxing fan who is quite elderly and both vastly knowledgeable and a thorough collector, especially of British fighters. He tells me that he's tried for decades to get hold of the fight with no joy. The other fella is a relative of Hague's, a pub landlord local to mewho possesses a lot of memorabilia in relation to him. I asked him too if the fight existed and he didn't think so either having gone to considerable effort to track down footage. Just my ten pennerth.
I’ve never seen it. But lost films are a fascinating subject. Hopefully this poster that has seen it, can track it down would love for it to see the light of day.
"A deafening silence ensued." You know who claims to have seen it,the same guy who says the Fitz v Choynski fight was filmed, and reneged on the bet when he was proven wrong!
You're such a moron Tony! It's the Fitz vs Ruhlin fight you idiot! Yes it was filmed. You lost that bet. How it was filmed or whether or not it can be viewed today was not part of the bet. It wasn't Fitz vs Choynski. Your memory sucks. You'll go to your grave a liar, a coward, and a welcher.
McVey ..... What about the Jennette v Carpentier footage you seen, or was that a figment of your imagination as well (post #37)? https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/sam-langford-vs-joe-jeannette-fight-film-on-line.257346/page-3
I saw it... in one of Mike Tyson’s fights. You can see someone in the crowd watching it on a mini TV. And boy is Hague mesmerizing.
