Langford v Wlad?

Lets try to keep The Classic Forum Troll Free, ok? General is bad enough, go there, if you want to waste people's time.

 

I am asking you to take on board a lot here, so I won’t hold it against you if you don’t take it all in immediately.

Langford was the best heavyweight finisher of all time, in terms of ability to set a fighter up and finish them. I am not talking pound for pound but outright. Wlad’s potential nemesis, is a guy who can manufacture his opportunity, and set him up for a fall. Langford would not be waiting for Wlad to make a mistake, he would be looking to induce him to make one, and if he did it would be goodnight sweet prince.

Fight fans today don’t think that Sam Langford was as dangerous as Jack Dempsey or Joe Louis, but people who saw him first hand did:

“I fought most of the heavyweights, including Dempsey and Johnson, but Sam could stretch a guy colder than any of them. When Langford hit me it felt like somebody had slugged me with a baseball bat. It was like taking ether. You just went to sleep.”

Fireman Flynn

“How that baby could hit. Nobody else could hit like that. Well, maybe Joe Louis could but Sam only weighed 160lbs. Joe Louis was about 195.”

Joe Jeanette

“He was a real professional, the kind of fighter you’d like to be but know that however hard you try you’ll never make it. Sam never made a mistake, he always held command and when he knocked me out in New Orleans, I thought I had been killed.”

“He was marvellous as a fighting man, I'd venture to say unbeatable in his prime.”

Harry Wills

“My boy (Joe Louis) is still two years removed from his prime. By then I will have him in Langford’s class.”

Jack Blackburn

 

It has been suggested that Wills could have closed his series with Langford much earlier than he did, but that he carried the ageing Langford so that people would continue paying to see him beat up on him.

Of course this cannot be proven.

 

So you think acting superior and condescending adds more weight to your argument?

And do you HONESTLY think, Sam would stand a better chance of defeating Wlad, than those men I mentioned?

 

Really, because he has a 40% overall knockout percentage, which is probably more like 10% if we just consider the heavyweights over 200lbs he fought. Vitali Klitschko is the best finisher at 87%KOs, followed by George Foreman 84%, Wlad 81%, Buddy Baer 78%, Earnie Shavers 76%, Mike Tyson 75%, Joe Louis 75%, Joe Frazier 73%, Sonny Liston 72%, Primo Carnera 69%, Max Baer 63%, and so on.

Dempsey knocked Flynn out in 1 round and five years later when Flynn was 44 Langford goes 10 with him, knocks him out in 3, and then goes 8 with him.

Let's have a look at another of their common opponents Fred Fulton. Dempsey knocked Fulton out in 23 seconds. Fulton knocked Langford out in 6 rounds.

 

You mean facts?

 

So that's your explanation why he'd only knock out heavyweights 10% of the time but you, Janitor, and Houdini still consider him the greatest puncher and finisher the heavyweight division has ever seen. I guess now we know. Thank you, McGrain.

 

I believe they are tied, but I was only looking at guys who fought other 6'0" 200lbs+ guys. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Marciano hit harder than Langford too.

It's a guess based on his overall record, though it may be even lower. I assume that since he was a good middleweight he probably had a KO record somewhere around 60-75% at that weight, but when he moved up two divisions and stopped knocking people out as much the rate suffered significantly. Considering that he actually did manage to knock out real heavyweights a couple of times I figured I would be generous and allow for a 10% knockout rate in that division. Therefore, he'd be an all time great puncher at middleweight and a light puncher by heavyweight standards.