How Special Was Sam Langford

I did have him as high as #2 on my all-time list, but over the years as my opinion has changed, he has slipped, but he was a phenom of his time and is still IMO one of the 10 finest fighters ever (#9)

 

He has a good claim to be the greatest pound for pound fighter that ever breathed.

I think that a case can be made for ranking him as a top 10 all time heavyweight as well.

 

I don't see what you guys are seeing at all. The footage, while very interesting, highlights more flaws than strengths.

He obviously had no idea of how to cut the ring off, and just follows his opponent around. He was off-balance quite a bit in the footage and his offence is rudimentary.

Great for his time sure, but honestly I can't see Virgil Hill battling to beat him.
Sorry, but that's the way I see it.

 

for his size he was amazing but for me he was too sloppy it might not matter but for me style points do count

his hands were too low low hands are good for a tactic way but he doesnt have a guard to block jabs and other stuff.

his jab was so long though you look at the flynn fight it just sems to fly away from his body.

he would beat some great fighters but he is just too heavy for his hieght.

 

I'll watch the clip again to see what you mean about the footwork. Maybe you're right...I only watched the clip once.

About his offence...I don't know how to put this other than to say it looks sloppy and awkward. He does have good handspeed, but to me his punches seem more 'back yard brawl' than 'sweet science.'

 

Okay I watxhed the clips carefully again and I have to agree that he actually cut the ring off pretty well. Thanks for pointing that out McGrain.

His punches are still a little wild at times, but he did use good leverage and his jab was excellent. I think what made me think otherwise at first is that he fought pretty square, leading me to misjudge him initially. He certainly comes across better on film than many other fighters of that era.

 

lindell holmes,montell griffin,kelvin davis,joe frazier
all small men they might win a title but they were just too small either long reach and power, speed or slickness gets them through but they are really just get out sized.
i believe that hieght is very overated but when your that heavy for that size you will never reach the upper echelons.


thing is that tiger was a short man but had the skills to back it up...these dimished and flump all these fighters got worse when they got older

the smaller men were great but burnt out quickly becuase of this frazier and tyson lost the speed to duck and slip,lindell holmes jab was a proder not a snappy jab it was before,montell griffin doesnt have the speed to dodge and confuze like he used to.

the poitn is that smaller men need more power skills speed all the stats to last longer once they go on a decline that was it.

smaller fighters need more skills when they burn out they burn out fast

 

Langford beats the crap out of hill

 

search joe gans:good perfect boxing skills for the times timeless

 

We will never know for sure, all we have are a little film, a lot of ringside comments and whatifs floating around all over, definitely a solid fighter to have done so well from LW to HW, but since he never won a title which is a huge way to judge a fighters worth in any top 10 rankings we can't put him there, and stop crying about racism with him, there were other black champs all around him, but why not him, we won't know 100% for sure, it was a combination of many things from what I've read. but without those chances on his resume it's hard to rate and rank him, especially in the HW division, maybe at MW and LWH, but no more than a top 15 HW to me at best.

 

Sam is my number one P4P

Look at his resume and his stats he was a special sort of fighter we don't have much film of old Sam but by looking at the film of his opponents and how he dispatched of them his greatness is quite apparent.