[GIF] Sam Langford shows a little boxing skill

It mostly happens because some of the people who are attracted to old-school boxing don't understand that the heavyweight division has evolved in ways that makes it much, much harder for little men to prosper.

That, and some people seem to believe that the best undersized heavyweights of the past were basically magical.

 

And then a fat old ex middleweight James Toney (who wasnt a pimple on Langford's ass and didnt have half his power) moved up to heavyweight with the back of his neck looking like a pack of hotdogs and still managed to compete on even terms with basically everybody he fought... There goes that theory...

 

What does that make Langford, a pudgy former lightweight? Different styles, different skill sets and Toney was always a naturally bigger man. In any event, the best prime heavyweight James Toney beat was...?

 

This is much more reasonable post than all of Pat M posts, thanks for reply. I still disagree with some of your points, but you have a legit point. Where I agree is that Langford wouldn't probably even fight at HW today, because circumstances are different nowadays. HWs are bigger and money is quite big at lower weights. Langford could dominate in any division from WW to LHW, he wouldn't need to move up to HW division.

Where I disagree is that his technique is outdated, but understand why you have that opinion.

 

I don't buy it, Sam is only slightly shorter and has longer reach. They both fought at MW comfortably and Sam wasn't fat at weights below 190 lbs. The difference is size is minimal, definitely not enough to say that one could fight at HW and the other couldn't.

Well, he beat old Holyfield and fought on even terms with Rahman and Ruiz. Nothing significant but good enough to say that he wasn't liability at HW.
Langford possessed better tools to fight at higher weight - more power and longer reach.

 

Langford was 2 1/2 inches shorter but he did have 2 inches of reach on Toney. Langford had a huge torso with a 44 in chest.

 

Langford never made Lightweight. The lowest he fought at was Welterweight, and that was when he was very young.

 

Yeah and my point is that the size difference is minimal here. Certainly not big enough to say that little Langford couldn't do anything against modern HWs while Toney was big enough.

 

Dude you provide so much to this forum, the only thing you should hear is thank you.

 

He's not. Ras is clearly very knowledgeable on the history, he just doesn't seem to apply it well. His lists are wack and he says mad **** but he does actually know loads

 

Unlike some others, I appreciate the inside game.... the grappling. His Dad was a wrestler and to incorporate it into your game, is an asset , not a liability, especially given his build. Brusa was a wrestler as well and incorporated it into Monzons game with a lot of defensive turns and twists he did … But the haters will continue to hate without really knowing what they are looking at … thanks again Rez with the awesome footage !!

 

Just curious—based on what we see on film, what makes you think his technique and approach to boxing would translate today? Do you feel the same way about Corbett? Sullivan? Willard? Wills?

 

Then maybe you should school us on some of the finer points. What exactly do you appreciate about the inside game and grappling demonstrated by Langford and Jeanette in the footage above? What’s so impressive about their technique?

 

I really don’t want to overemphasize the importance of the size difference in isolation but Toney and Langford were not the same size. Toney was reportedly 200-lbs+ when he played high school football, and by his mid-20s, he was killing him self to melt down to 168 with 24-hour weigh-ins (while Langford was walking around in the low 160s). People can mock Toney for his BMI or for not being a body beautiful at heavyweight, but at the end of the day he was still a much bigger man than Langford when he fought there.

 

His technique was just fine, he would have to adjust to bigger gloves but other than that he had all tools refined. His approach would be different though, because of different rules and conditions - bigger gloves, less clinching, shorter fights ect. So his approach wouldn't be quite the same.

Corbett - yes but he would have to improve his workrate.
Sullivan - I haven't seen anything relevant from Sullivan on tape, can't comment.
Willard - he would have to change a lot as he was more of a long distance fighter. Workrate and more use of a jab would help him.
Wills - yes he would have to change many things, mostly because he was more of a grappler and inside fighter. He had the physical atributes to do so.