Langford is overrated

w/o the benefit of day-before weigh-ins, Canelo likely would've never been any less than a MW in Langford's era, given that the WW limit back then was 142 & there was no jr.MW division. & we still don't know how he would handle fighters that outweigh him by an additional 20-40 lb on top of the weight that he'd already moved up, as Langford did.

Langford wasn't "rediscovered with the advent of the internet," he's been regarded as an ATG even while he was still lacing up the gloves.

I already linked to a NY Times article published on December 23, 1913, titled "NEGRO'S SUPREMACY IN RING NEAR END; Johnson, Langford, McVea, and Jeannette Are Deteriorating Rapidly as Boxers," which opens by saying, "The supremacy of the negro in pugilism, which has not been disputed since Jack Johnson won the heavyweight title from Tommy Burns at Sydney five years ago, unless by those who took hope in Jeffries's return to the ring, seems to be at at end," & goes on to state that Langford & his black contemporaries used "to inspire terror among the whites" & "It was the general impression up to the time of the Smith bout that Langford was the class among all heavyweights, white or black."

Then there's Langford's obituary here, which unequivocally states that "every boxing expert conceded him greatness."

 

Langford was among the inaugural class of inductees into the IBHOF in 1990. There has never been a time in history since he was active where he has not been regarded among the ATGs.