Lineage of the coloured heavyweight title

http://senya13.blogspot.com/2011/05/1914-05-01-sam-langford-nd10-harry.html

Also, a next-day wire:
LANGFORD HAS NO SOFT MARK IN HARRY WILLS
--------
NEW ORLEANS, La., May 2.--Sam Langford of Boston and Harry Wills of New Orleans fought 10 rounds to a draw last night before the largest crowd seen here in years. Wills had the advantage in the first four rounds, splitting Langford's lip and cutting his left eye. Langford's ring experience told in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds, and his infighting was wonderful. He almost had Wills out in the ninth, but Harry hung on in clinches. The 10th was an even round. Buddy Griffin, the referee, gave no decision, one paper here favoring Wills, others being for a draw. Langford was a 2 to 1 favorite in betting.

 

I saw that as well, and I think it's very good, but I have to go with the record book on this one.

I will check it out and see what I come up with.

 

I edited my original post above. I don't care what Luckett or the Ring Record book say. I have four next-day reports, 1 scoring for Langford, another a draw and 2 for Wills.

 

Like I said, I will check it out and get back to you. You might be right, we will see, OK.

 

If you give me your e-mail, I can send you scans with all four reports.

 

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I checked it out and found several mistakes as well. The articles you sent me showed that this was a No-Decision bout. The other sources had the wrong information.

 

Just read through this thread again. Might have to reevaluate my view on jeffries. Beating both the coloured and the world champion is very impressive.

 

Incredible piece of research work. Could easily be turned into a dissertation for a master's degree with a bit of work.

Were there claimants to "coloured" titles in other weight classes?

 

Interesting and informative,thank you for posting:good

 

I corrected the lineage on Langford's record on boxrec. This adds 7 defences in between the two Wills fights. You forgot to list March 23, 1914, bout with Bill Watkins as a defence, on this thread, btw.

 

Absolutely fascinating stuff guys.

:good

 

Delete

 

Ts is racist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Not sure if this is any use to anyone but I used Hhascup's lineage plus Senya's correction to produce an easy to read breakdown. I'm not sure how accurate it is either but if anyone has any corrections i'm sure they'll let me know :good


Name; Reign; Defences
Charles C Smith; 1876-1881; 0
Prof Charles Hadley; 1881-1883; 3
George Godfrey; 1883-1888; 2
Peter Jackson; 1888-1896; 0
Bob Armstrong; 1896-1898; 1
Frank Childs; 1898-1898; 2
George Byers; 1898-1901; 1
Frank Childs(2); 1901-1902; 0
Denver Ed Martin; 1902-1903; 4
Jack Johnson; 1903-1909; 19
Sam McVea; 1909-1909; 1
Joe Jeannette; 1909-1909; 0
Sam Langford; 1909-1911; 10
Sam McVea(2); 1911-1912; 0
Sam Langford(2); 1912-1915; 21
Joe Jeannette(2); 1915-1915; 1
Sam McVea(3); 1915-1915; 0
Harry Wills; 1915-1916; 2
Sam Langford(3); 1916-1917; 13
Bill Tate; 1917-1917; 0
Sam Langford(4); 1917-1918; 5
Harry Wills(2); 1918-1926; 28
George Godfrey; 1926-1928; 4
Larry Gains; 1928-1930; 0
George Godfrey(2); 1930-1933; 5
Obie Walker; 1933-1935; 0
Larry Gains(2); 1935; 0

 

:bowdown