Suppose Burns had given Langford rather than Johnson a title shot. If he won what do you think his title reign would have been like? Who would he have defended against?
Very hard to say, but I will have a stab. Like Johnson, he would have been able to make the most money fighting white hopes, and the public would have demanded a match with Jeffries. He would probably have been capable of fielding these challenges, but its not a given that he beats the older Jeffries. The tables would effectively be turned, with the specter of Johnson hanging over him, and Langford having few incentives to take the fight. He would probably have been under more pressure to fight Johnson, than Johnson was to fight him, because most people thought that Johnson was better. He would have been better at staying out of trouble outside the ring than Johnson, but his style was less well suited for longevity. This probably leads to a shorter and more active title reign, perhaps where a fight with Johnson materializes.
I wonder if Johnson would have continued his tactics, especially with already giving, a albeit green Langford, a beatdown. Hard to see Langford winning if Johnson gets a shot at him. I'd imagine he'd have less fights than he did, he'd certainly have the option, which would help with his consistency, but who knows?
Langford would almost certainly have taken less fights, because he would have made many times as much money for a fight. The main reason why fighters like Langford, Wills, and Johnson before he won the title, took so many fights, was because they could not get title fights. It was the only way that they could make similar amounts of money to a champion. Wills ended up with more money than Dempsey poetically! So the key question is would Langford have chanced a defense against Johnson? You could have got a Burns type situation, where he got bored of beating up the white hopes, and decided to do or die for a huge purse. I suspect that Johnson would have been stronger and hungrier in this scenario, and Tham would still have been enjoying the good life a bit too much. That potentially gives us an older Johnson as champion, sending the lineage shooting god knows where!
Langford would have less fights because he would be commanding more money.I'd bet my house he wouldn't go anywhere Johnson."I take my hat off to him ,he handed me the only real beating I ever took!". Langford wouldn't have to fight Johnson, his challengers would be Moran,Flynn, and Kaufman whom he had refused to fight,Palzer, Ferguson,Ketchel .All the "vanilla brigade," essentially the same as Johnson's.
If he were around today you could ask him ,unfortunately he isn't. You really need to do some serious reading on this era. This would be a good place to start! Unforgivable Blackness by Geoffrey C Ward Jack Johnson The Rise by Adam Pollack Jack Johnson The Reign by Adam Pollack Papa Jack by Randy Roberts Jack Johnson In The Ring & Out by Jack Johnson Jack Johnson & His times by Denzil Batchelor Sam Langford by Clay Moyle James J Jeffries In the Ring by Adam Pollack The Fighting Blacksmith by Gilbert Odd The Great White Hopes by Graeme Kent
NB from the middle of his actual career till the end of it, Langford was rarely in top shape,it's very possible he might have lost his title to quite a number of unlikely suspects.Gun Boat Smith,[ who beat him in1913,] perhaps? Sandy Ferguson & Jim Barry both drew with Langford in1909, had Langford been the defending champion perhaps some referees might have been tempted to pull for the white challenger? Colin Bell also drew with Sam in1913.