Greb & Langford

Langford was no longer the formidable force he once was by the time Greb was routinely taking on Heavyweights. I can't see how it could've been considered a duck at the time.

 

What forum?

 

Actually it's a good question.
Their careers did overlap, and both have reputations for taking on ANYONE.

I'd like to know if they ever boxed each other, or whether there was ever any talk of such.
Maybe they were just campaigning in different geographical spheres. I'll admit I haven't looked into it.

 

A Greb Langford fight was never even floated. It wasnt even a consideration. There is absolutely nothing in the historical record to give the impression that Greb didnt want to fight Langford. In 1922 Tiger Flowers was a complete unknown fighting on the southern chitlin circuit when he was KOD by Langford. That fight was next to meaningless at the time and outside of local press garnered no meda attention.

 

I concur with what Klompton wrote. Greb and Langford were on two totally different paths at that time. I have a copy of a letter written to The Ring in which the writer (one Fred R. Whedon) asked Greb while he was in the gym hitting the heavy bag, why he never fought Sam Langford. Greb laughed and said "Do you want me to commit suicide?"

Take that for what it's worth. I don't get the impression that the writer asked because he felt Harry was ducking Sam. Only to underscore how highly Sam was regarded by his contemporaries.

No middleweight had any business being in the ring with Sam Langford once he started knocking out ranking heavyweights.

 

Can I get a copy of that article?

 

Right, thats the same letter that goes on to lament the lack of Harry Greb coverage in the Ring Magazine.

 

Hi Steve. No prob. Only drawback- idiot Surf-Bat didn't write down the date of The Ring it appeared in. It was the "Letters from Our Readers" section. I copied the page but the date doesn't appear.

PM me your addy again and I'll mail it to you.

 

Actually, in the letter Whedon is slamming Nat Fleischer for a Saturday Evening Post article on Nat in which Fleischer neglected to mention either Greb or Sam Langford.

 

Did Whedon mention a Greb article by "Mann"?
He gives no first name.

 

No. Just the SEP article. No mention of any "Mann"

 

Surf, In an old ring Magazine,i read years ago,Nat Fleischer would
answer questions from the monthly readers.in response to a reader
who asked the question 'what round would it take sam Langford to catch up to Harry Greb and ko him"?. Fleischer's answer was "I don't believe
Langford or any fighter would catch Greb to ko him".And Nat Fleischer
always raved about sam Langford...For what it's worth..b.b.