Twenty rounds . Two pocket battleships. Has Sharkey a realistic chance here, or does he get buried by Langford's freakish power, and superior ring craft.?
Yeah, has to be Langford. The guys that had the firepower to face Tom down (Fitz, Maher) are the key, Sam had it in spades and bounces Sharkey around the ring-bad style match-up for the Irishman.
I see no one under 6' and 200 pounds slugging w Langford and surviving .. no one. No Sailor Tom, not Fitz, not Dempsey, not Marciano .. none of them .. I say Sam puts them all to sleep .. he could be outboxed but none of them out slug him at his best , no way.
Sharkey was a good grappler and would have been hard to finish. I could see the Sailor spoiling his way through a lot of rounds. BTW Sharkey was shot the second time he fought Fitz.
Sam seemed to be a bit more flexible and could both box and punch than Sharkey but Tom was a tough rugged guy so this would not be an easy fight. Tom stood with Jeffries and Sam was also beaten by other guys like Joe Jeanette, Gunboat Smith,Harry Wills,Bill Tate,Sam *******,Fred Fulton,etc. How strong and effective would Sharkey be against Sam and how would Sam's power effect Sharkey, Sam was the greater fighter but this would not be an easy fight.
I don't think any fight against Sailor Tom, would be an "easy fight". But I would confidently bet my money on LANGFORD here. QMNGFOR3
My thoughts exactly. Sharkey was too strong, too durable and too hard-hitting in his prime to be "easy".
Langford outboxes him for certain, but I think Sharkeys toughness is sometimes underrated as well as his power anyone who fights the brutal fight he did with Jeffries hangs with Langford. If we are assuming we are matching the best versions. Sharkey can hurt and KO Sam but he more than likely can't out box him and he could be KO'd as well.
I don't think Jeffries was in Langford's class for power. There has possibly never been anyone in Jeffries class for durability.
I don't think it would be reasonable to assume Jeffries didn't hit as hard. I don't think Jeffries ever went after a fighter to hurt him quite the way Langford did. My thoughts on Jeffries are he may have been a very talented athlete and a great fighter but he wasn't near as aggressive.
How Jeffries operated could be a factor but I see him as a grinder ,getting stoppages after wars of attrition. "I hit you ,you hit me, I'll take all you've got ,then it''s my turn". That's my take on him. Jeffries was a big man stopping much smaller, and often much older men. Langford was a smaller man koing bigger men, often with one punch. Sam ko'd men with sudden explosiveness, he didn't need to gradually wear them down.
