Fighters who Sam Langford could not possibly beat.

Do not agree that Sam Langford could spark out Lewis, as when motivated Lewis had very good punch resistance.

 

I am speaking specifically about Marciano. Dempsey himself said straight up that he knew Langford would have flattened him.

 

SuzieQ seems to be severely estimating Langford here.

He had a great chin, genuine one punch power at any weight and under-rated boxing ability.

 

The fighter who Sam Langford could not possibly beat has never breathed and probably never will.

It is realistic to say that in a series of three fights he would get at least one win over any other fighter in history.

Anybody talking about "fighters Langford couldnt beat" is simply being grosley unrealistic.

 

Surely saying there has been a man who can beat every other fighter who has ever existed at least once is being unrealistic???? I know Langford is seriously revered but come on, the 5'6 man with the freakish punching power could surely not beat the PRIME Tyson, or Larry Holmes, Hell, what about Sonny Liston?

I mean, do you think he could spark George Chuavlo? Something that a lot of good HW's couldn't do, although Foreman stopped him on cuts.

 

Marciano, I dont see how any one thinks Marciano would go out in 5 or 6 rounds with Langford.

 

Foreman did not stop Chuvalo on cuts. The Foreman/Chuvalo fight was stopped to save Chuvalo's life. I have never seen a man hit as hard as often without going down as in that fight. A few more shots and Foreman might have killed him. It was nasty.

Langford , a natural middleweight who today could have fought anywhere between 160 and 175, had troubles with large heavyweights than had significent reach on him and made excellent use of the jab. This is why Fred Fulton was twice able to defeat him. Even before the eye injury Fulton was beating him. This is also why the 6'2" plus Wills was able to and even why in their initial encounters McVey was able to trouble him. McVey was not simply a puncher but a good boxer with a very good jab of his own.

The Klit brothers, Lewis, Ali, Holmes, Jack Johnson would all have been too much for Sam to overcome. Too much size with the right style. Others like Foreman, Liston and Bowe might simply be too big and powerful. A 216 pound prime Mike Tyson most likely was too big and strong and fast. However, the 200 lb and under guys would all be in for the fight of their lifes, especially the fighters whose styles complimented Langford such as Dempsey,Marciano and Frazier.

Again, common opponents said definatively that Langford hit harder than Dempsey. Dempsey himself said Langford would have flattened him. He did not say it to be polite like saying he was not sure if he could ever beat Tunney. He said it straight up. Maybe we sould start taking men who saw things first hand at their word.

 

No.

Fulton was able to beat him because he was an empty shell at the time.

You might as well argue that Trevor Berbicks victory over Muhamad Ali suggested some underlying technical weaknes that could always have been exploited by a fighter of similar style.

If Fulton had been unlucky enough to meet Langford in his prime he might just have gone the same way as he went against Dempsey.

 

who said Langford was too small to beat lewis, bowe or the K sisters?
yes he is 5'6 but he has a huge upperbody (broad shoulders) big legs and punching power that matches anybody.
http://74.125.77.132/search?q=cache...her&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=uk&client=firefox-a
history has shown guys who are anything between 5'5 and 5'10 (considered short) can beat any of the big guys taking into account that they had skill and reasonable power.

watch 5'5 inch qawi give foreman some problems, imagine langford landing them shots on foreman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRTZ6mD-2a8

As someone mentioned earlier, dempsey and marciano werent used to fighting small guys, whereas langford was used to fighting guys dempsey/marciano size. these two wont be such a great problem compared to modern heavyweights.

imo Vitali gives langford the most problems, cos of his power, reach, jab and workrate. but langford was awesome at getting in close and he had legitimate HW power. from what other fighters have said about him, i get the impression he was the earnie shavers of his era.

conclusion- the big heavies may give langford problems, but as janitor said, there isnt anyone who langford cant beat.

 

The quote I have from Dempsey relates to the possibility of him facing Langford as a younger fighter in 1916:

"I think Sam Langford was the greatest fighter we ever had. I didn't have the experience to fight a man like that. He was a hell of a puncher, so why should I get my brains knocked out for nothing? Even at my best I don't know whether I could lick him. He was a good man, good puncher, rough, tough."

Whereas Dempsey gives great respect to Langford, this is not the same as saying he thought Langford would "flatten him" in a prime for prime match...unless, of course, you have another Langford quote from Dempsey?

If so, could you post it, please?

 

I dont underate Langford. I pick him over many heavyweights. i just dont see how he is going to be able to outslug 185lb monsters dempsey and marciano. i cant see him winning 2 out of 3 against these guys, especially marciano who was deadly in rematches.

 

"Whereas Dempsey gives great respect to Langford, this is not the same as saying he thought Langford would "flatten him" in a prime for prime match...unless, of course, you have another Langford quote from Dempsey?

If so, could you post it, please? "

Here's a couple of quotes directly from 'Dempsey, by the Man Himself as told to Bob Considine and Bill Slocum' published 1960. Page 62 concerning a conversation with his then manager John the Barber:

"I've seen Langford," I said. "You're wasting your time. I won't fight him. He's too damned good for me." John the Barber alwasy had something else up his sleeve. "All right, just as you say," he said. "How about Gunboat Smith?" He was still grinning. Gunboat Smith could box rings around me and he could hit like a mule's kick. The papers had called him "the white heavyweight champion" before Jess Willard beat Jack Johnson the year before. I shook my head again. Smith could lick me, I knew. But I wasn't afraid of him, as I was of Langford, I just didn't see any sense in a kid just out of his teens fighitng a real pro who could disgrace him. I'd take Smith in time, and did, but this wasn't the tiem to try it. Langford I could never see my self beating."

And from the same book on page 3: "The hell I feared no man! There was one man - he was even smaller than I - I wouldn't fight him because I knew he would flatten me. I was afraid of Sam Langford."

 

I find Dempsey to be pretty honest at times. I think Langford would have a chance vs anyone. This is not to say I would pick him to win, but a chance, for sure.

When you have great power as Langford had, an iron chin, 20+ round stamina, and the courage of an angry wolverine in the ring, you can win. Sam had good skills to.