I'm reading Moyle's Langford book at the moment and there's mention of a hush-hush sparring session between sam and jeff to gauge jeff's condition before the Johnson fight...apparently ending in Jeffries being whupped. Did this really happen/any outside sources? its just hard to believe when i've never heard a peep about it.
Sorry coming back to this one late - this one must've passed me by - but yeah I have read a couple of times about this having been rumoured to have taken place?? Someone must have something a bit more concrete on it?? Come on Classickers lets try to pool our resources on this one - the source I read it in first said something along the lines of the whupping Langford gave him in sparring left him in the withdrawn depressed state he came into the Johnson match - someone must know something more about it?? This is one of those secret mystery underground things that I really would love to delve into further
R, i have never read about this secret sparring event,between Jim Jeffries and sam Langford in 1910 ,just before Jeffries ill-fated comeback attempt July 4,1910 in Reno.But IF,and a big if,what does that prove,in reality ? Jim Jeffries ,after a SIX YEAR retirement,shedding 70 pounds or so,at the age of 35, was Jim Jeffries in NAME ONLY. A mere shell of himself,as Ali in 1980 was a shell of himself against Holmes and Trevor Berbick,though Ali,old but still active ,as opposed to Jeffries 6 year layoff...in the scheme of things meaningless,if Jim and Sam actually sparred together. Another point- I have in the course of many years, read the quote of Sam Langford attesting to the fact that "the only fighter I want no part of is Jim Jeffries"...If true, he meant the Boilermaker ,in his prime BEFORE the six year layoff... One other point Rocky.When young, I would go weekly to the famous Stillman's gym to see the best fighters in the world.Many times i would see the big name stars, get the tar kicked out of them by unknown guys that were not in the same bracket as these champions and other headliners. So I don't give much credence to sparring sessions at all...:good
Clay Moyle was neither able to confirm nor deny this story. It is probably true to say that Langford was atached to Jeffries camp though.
I first read about this in The Ring or Boxing Illustrated, I'd guess back in the 1980's. This far removed, I doubt the story will ever be proved anything more than myth.
Yeah kind of with on not putting a great deal of importance on sparring sessions - maybe they might be an indicator but like you say - things happen in sparring - and you can never recreate than big fight feeling for real when absolutely everything is on the line - but it is damn intriguing to say the least - I am iching to hear of any first hand accounts that you could let us in on from the Stillmans days -sometimes like i was reading on a thread the other day about Patterson laying some big money bets on Clay to beat Liston the first time - apparently he was going on reports of Liston looking pretty awful in sparring - just out of interest do you have any reports of any Stillmans sessions where a big name got a drubbing in sparring but then still went on to look good winning the big one? PS the more stories you can give us on these sparring sessions the better - i could listen to your memories all day long combined with the fact that sparring stories always have me intrigued so this is a bonus!! Fire away Burt :good....
Rocky,I would for example see Rocky Graziano getting jabbed silly by sparring partners ,while Rocky was throwing right hand grenades, fanning the air.An example, too numerous to recall.i would go home by train from Stillmans gym and tell my dad about our favorites looking lousy in the gym and he'd say,'don't mean a thing ', and he was correct.There are great gym fighters, who never amount to anything, and great money fighters, who looked bad in the gym. Take care R.:good
