Jack johnson on sam langford

wow... to both of you.

don't hold back on the stories.

here, i'll go first:

I shook Tony Tubbs' hand. It was slippery.

 

Then why does Johnson himself say he was floored? Where can I see a direct quote of Woodman saying the story was made up? I have heard this before, but never read anything definitive.

When Langford fought Johnson his Box Rec listed weight was 156, but Johnson says Langford was even lighter than that. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between.

As a heavyweight, Langford was in his prime from 1908-1915 when Johnson held the title. There are several big time offers from promoters, but this is a fight Johnson would not take. Langford's best weight at heavy was 170-190 pounds.

 

No one is going to change your mind, and, to try would be futile.If you want to think Langford knocked Johnson down ,and if you want to beleive Langford weighed 138lbs then so be it.

"Langford however,disliked me,principally I think,because I had defeated him , having given him a good beating at one time.

At any rate,he bet on Jeff.and his friends and others followed his example.

The results were disastrous for them, but preceding the fight.Langford's activites lent colour to the rumours afloat concerning me.

Recently he is reported to have said in an interview, for a magazine article that he found me an easy opponent,in spite of the fact that I defeated him.

I have no desire to exaggerate my ability as a boxer,nor to mimimize the capacities of my opponents.

Langford calls attention to the fact that he knocked me down to indicate that I did not have the best of him.

If Mr Langford really gave this interview, all I can say is that ,in the language of the prize ring,he is punch crazy, for no such knocking down of me occurred.

The fact is that I dropped him a few times during the encounter.

The boxers and sports writers who witnessed the event ,among whom I recall the names Joe Walcott,Mike Twin Sullivan,John Twin Sullivan,Stephen Mahoney,a noted Boston sports writer,and Alec McLean a fight promoter will attest the truth of my remarks."

" Jack Johnson In The Ring and Out"

 

Mendoza says:Then why does Johnson himself say he was floored? Where can I see a direct quote of Woodman saying the story was made up? I have heard this before, but never read anything definitive.

When Langford fought Johnson his Box Rec listed weight was 156, but Johnson says Langford was even lighter than that. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between.

As a heavyweight, Langford was in his prime from 1908-1915 when Johnson held the title. There are several big time offers from promoters, but this is a fight Johnson would not take. Langford's best weight at heavy was 170-190 pounds.

My mind can easily be changed. All I require is facts. I asked for a direct source of the weights that can be read ( not box rec ), and a direct quote from Woodman about the story being made up. Do you have these?

 

I'm not interested in changing your mind, keep your opinions.Johnson says he was not floored in the piece I provided .Beleive what you want , nobody gives a **** anyway.


In an open letter to The Ring magazine in 1934, Johnson wrote: “I have accounts of the fight from my dear old friend, Tad (legendary sports writer and cartoonist Tad Dorgan) which show how badly Sam Langford was whipped. Please note the account of our fifteen-round fight at Chelsea, Mass., which I am enclosing. The report shows that I gave poor Sam such a severe trimming that he had to find his way into a hospital to recuperate. The records of that fight prove that statement to be correct.
“Langford was among the five fighters to whom I gave the worst beatings in all my career. This quintet was composed of Jim Jeffries, Tommy Burns, Sam Langford, Sailor Burke and Frank Childs.”
To his dying day in 1972, Ring editor Nat Fleischer maintained that Jack Johnson was the greatest of all the heavyweights. Understandably, Nat was eager to get to the bottom of the Johnson-Langford controversy. In his 1958 book, ’50 Years at Ringside’, Fleischer produced the testimony of his father-in-law, Dad Phillips, who allegedly saw the fight.
Said Phillips: “Jack Johnson decisively defeated Sam Langford. He was complete master of the situation. Jack so far outclassed Langford that for a time, until he purposely eased up on his onslaughts, the fight was one-sided.
Langford was dropped twice for counts of nine, and he would have been out the first time if Referee Martin Flaherty had not slowed up the count. At the end of the fight, Sam had to be taken to a hospital.
“As for Langford dropping Johnson, that’s absurd. Why, he couldn’t land on Jack.”
Sam’s alleged knockdown of Jack continued to bug Nat Fleischer, who had to find the truth from the nearest equivalent of the horse’s mouth. Nat cornered Langford’s former manager Joe Woodman and good-naturedly demanded the true version of events.
According to Fleischer, this was Woodman’s response: “You’ve got me, Nat. Langford never dropped Johnson. But I was anxious to fix up another fight between the two and, knowing Jack’s pride, I invented the story of that knockdown to goad him into the ring against Sam again.
“Although it never happened, all the newspapermen believed it. They just never took the trouble to investigate. That knockdown was just a publicity gimmick.”

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Sam Langford The 300 Bout Man.

Langford’s only meaningful loss was to future Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson in 1906. Langford was only a light-middleweight at the time fighting an almost unbeatable “Galveston Giant.” Langford would later admit, “Jack handed me the only real beating I ever took”. Floored twice, he lost a 15 round decision.Langford’s only meaningful loss was to future Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson in 1906. Langford was only a light-middleweight at the time fighting an almost unbeatable “Galveston Giant.” Langford would later admit, “Jack handed me the only real beating I ever took”.

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Langford only met Jack Johnson in the ring once, on April 26, 1906, in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Johnson, who outweighed Langford by 35 pounds, won easily, breaking Langford's nose and cutting his lip. Johnson said later that he had prolonged the match to 15 rounds at the request of the ring's management.

"Unforgiveable Blackness "

 

Amazing post ... great experience ! Love the very few , first hand experiences ... I am also always interested in any first hand accounts of meeting Dempsey which many in my native NYC have done through his resturantthrough the years ..

 

It certainly would have been something to have met these legends in the flesh.