Sam Langford footage

No.
Just accept that they happened.

Once we've accepted that Langford won all those fights, often with one-punch KOs, we can accept that he was "great" and that his reputation is built on real results.

Saying Langford beats Lewis might be foolish, but no more foolish that saying Lewis beats Langford.

 

I never said the man's career was a farce.

That's fine, if all we do is limit our opinions to that.

Agreed.

I never said Lewis would beat him. I only pointed out that some felt Langford could feast on modern giants, soley based on his reputation and nothing else. I'm not sure why you felt it was necessary to ask me if I viewed historical events as being fictional because I never witnessed them.

 

Magoo, perhaps I took your "legend combined with myth" comment too literally.

I consider Langford's reputation as linked to specific historical events (ie. his fights) and facts, rather than "legend and myth".

That's basically where I'm coming from.

 

Okay, I probably shouldn't have used the terms "myth" and "legend" as I can clearly see how they might create the impression of disbelief. I accept the fact that Langford had a great resume and for all practical purposes was probably a very good fighter.

 

"Bigger is Better" disease. Didnt Sam knockout hall of fame superheavyweights?

 

Here's a summary on Langford's career.

Part I

He was a little man. He only Stood 5'6" yet he was known as "the giant killer." This fighter who beat the biggest and toughest of them all from lightweight to heavyweight. There was Joe Gans, Jack O'Brien, two World champions, and both went down under his blows. And yet the strange part of it is that this boxer, the hardest hitter in history never became a world's champion. And why? Because he was too good! This Is the story of Sam Langford, the Nova Scotia Tar Baby. Sam was born in Weymouth, a thriving lumber port In Southern Nova Scotia, on March 4th., 1886. During the American War of Independence, over 2000 negro slaves escaped from the plantations to join the British Army in New York City. And there they fought as soldiers in the battle of Harlem Heights. When the British evacuated New York by ship in 1783, they took negro soldiers along with them. Soon after, these negroes were settled in Nova Scotia in and around Halifax, Digby, Weymouth and Saint John.

William Langford, Sam's great-grandfather, was among them. He was the son of a father, a short, stocky lumberjack who was recognized as the toughest and strongest log drawer an the Sissiboo River. Sam was one of many children in the Langford family who lived in an old shanty on the outskirts of Weymouth. His early life was hard. He had little schooling for at the age of eleven, he left home to work in Digby as ox-driver and log hauler, earning a dollar and a quarter a week with board. To visit his home In Weymouth, he had to Walk the thirty six miles there and back because he didn't have the 60 cents for train fare. At twelve he shipped as sailor on a tramp steamer. But soon after, the vessel was wrecked in a storm off the New Brunswick coast and the crew had to take to the lifeboats. At 14, short, loose-limbed and strong, he rode the freight cars and worked his way through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It was a tough life. He often met up with tramps and vagabonds who would pick a fight with the negro boy and Sam soon learned how to take care of himself. He crossed the border-into Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

One November morning he jumped off a freight train on the outskirts of Boston, with his only friend, a stray dog. He headed for the city and walked into a small drug store and asked if he could get some work as he hadn't eaten for two days. Joe Woodman, the owner, fed him and gave him a job as janitor in the boxing gymnasium which he operated as a sideline.

Sam watched the professional boxers train and studied their styles. When some boxers ran short of a sparring partner Sam put on the gloves. This skinny youngster was belted around the ring, yet he always came back for more. Sam Langford, the little coloured boy who was soon to beat the world champions! In the evenings, he worked as a waiter in a nearby tavern. One night, a huge, heavy set dock hand came in, had a few drinks, and decided to leave without paying. As he neared the door, Sam jumped over the counter and asked him for the money. The man laughed and roughly shoved him aside. Sam went sprawling to the floor. He leapt up, tore Into the ruffian and buried his fist in his stomach. The big man crumpled in a heap. When Woodman heard about what bad happened, he realized that Sam had possibilities, and so he entered him in the city amateur boxing tournament. And Langford was crowned featherweight champion of Boston. That same year, at the early age of 15, he started on his professional boxing career, with Woodman as his manager. He trained hard, up at six every morning, running, chopping wood, lifting weights. boxing, boxing all the time. This exercise packed on twenty pounds of muscle, and at sixteen he weighed 140 at a height of 5'5''. From 16 to seventeen he was in 45 matches and he took them all except one, and that was lost by a close decision.

Soon there was only one lightweight he hadn't defeated, and he was the world champion, Joe Gans. Gans, "the, old master," the greatest lightweight that ever donned a pair of gloves. On December 8th, 1903, Langford met Gans in a non-title match. Gans, the veteran, tail and finely muscled, confident of quick victory; Langford, young, short and chunky, uncertain of the outcome. The bell. Gans tore across the ring and caught Sam in his corner. A flurry of blows that drove Langford to the ropes. They clinched. Gans punched Langford in the mouth Sam smashed him back in the stomach. The champ brought up an uppercut that knocked Sam's head back. Sam was hanging on the ropes with Gans in on him trying for the knockout. The referee separated them. Toe to toe now, they ripped body punches at each other. Langford swayed under the attack and retreated. The bell. For four rounds Gans pounded the youngster, but round five. Sam threw a vicious right and followed up with one to the ribs. Gans was hurt Langford closed in, Gans was down, four, five, six , he staggered to his feet. Langford leaped in and rammed Gans on the ropes. The champ was tired out. For the next eleven rounds Gans had to use every trick he knew to keep from being knocked out. Sam Langford, the seventeen year old wonder boy, had vanquished the greatest lightweight in the game.

Langford was built for fighting. He had a small waist, huge chest, and arms that reached below his knees. In fact, his arm span was over six feet. He Was getting heavier and more powerful. As a welterweight he soon disposed of all the best boxers in that class. And then he got his chance at the title. September 5,1904, and he was in the ring with Joe Walcott. The welterweight champion of the world. Walcott was considered the greatest welterweight of any age, stood only 5' 1" and weighed 145. Being built like a wrestler, he looked as if nothing could knock him down. The referee stood back. The fight was on. Langford set a whirlwind pace and slugged away at Walcott's elusive, weaving body. Walcott was on the defensive. But In round eight, Walcott came out of his shell and for four rounds beat a tattoo of blows on Langford. The fourteenth round Sam leaped out of his chair and before Walcott could even cover up, connected with a right hand swing and two uppercuts. Walcott's face was marked with blood. The champion saw that the title was slipping from his grasp. He forgot all about style and just waded in. Sam stood up to him and returned blow for blow. The final bell rang and they were still at It. The referee had in break them apart. The judge's decision, a draw! The spectators booed and hollered and some even climbed into the ring to protest. "Langford is the champion!" they shouted. And that was the opinion of the newspapermen. The sports editor of the New York Illustrated News wrote, "My personal opinion is that Langford was entitled to the verdict, and should have been awarded the world's title."

It was "easy come, easy go" with Sam when it came to money, jovial, soft spoken, he gave most of his earnings away. All he cared about was boxing, not for its brutality, but because it was a contest of brain, skill and condition. At nineteen he squared off with (6 foot-190 lbs) Joe Jeanette one of the greatest heavyweights of the day. Sam battered him to a pulp. Speed, strength, agility and the courage to take all that the ponderous heavyweights could dish out, and give more in return made him the most feared man in the ring. He was small and light, but it was quality and not quantity. that counted. It was he who smashed the old theory that "a good big man is better than a good little man". His boxing style varied and differed with each opponent. In the opening rounds he usually felt out his rival and when he had him sized up, he would get down to business.

Tommy Burns of British Columbia was the champion heavyweight boxer of the world. The two contenders for his title were Langford and Jack Johnson. But Burns would not fight either of them. There were no fight athletic commissions in those days and If a boxer champion didn't want to meet a certain challenger he didn't have to. On April 26, 1906 the two heavyweight challengers, Langford and Johnson, met. 28 years old, Johnson, almost six foot tan and weighing 185 pounds, towered over 20-year-old Langford who weighed Just 155 at 5'6". From round one to seven Sam stood up to Johnson and fought him to a standstill. Every time Johnson hurled his famous knockout punch, Sam would duck just in time. Round eight. They clinched. Johnson broke away and walloped a terrific hook to Sam's jaw. Sam toppled to the floor. At the count of nine he struggled shakily to his feet. Johnson chopped him down again. Langford, his face swollen and h1s nose broken, wobbled up and hit back desperately. Round Ten. Langford put his whole 155 lbs. behind a straight jab that caught Johnson right under the heart, and Johnson's' face contorted with pain as he fell to the canvas. "Four, five, six" Johnson was back up on his feet and the carnage continued. For 15 rounds Langford held his own with the mighty Jack Johnson, and so savagely did he counterattack that it was Johnson who was the more exhausted at the end. Yes, Johnson won by a decision over a man half a foot shorter and thirty pounds lighter! After the fight Johnson discovered he had broken his hand.

 

Part II on Langford:

Several years later, a heavier and more experienced Langford was to challenge Johnson who was then world champion, but Johnson had had enough. He was willing to meet anyone, but not Langford! And It was the same with all other boxers. The only way Sam could get a fight was to promise not to go for a knockout. But Sam didn't like that kind of a match. So he sailed to Britain to meet the great British heavyweight, Tiger Smith. Before the Contest, the British fight promoters called Sam to ask him about the choice of the referee. "Why, the referee's been chosen," said Langford "Why you must be mistaken Mr. Langford, you can't do that". And there was a storm of protest. Sam flashed a grin, raised his fist in the air and shook it and laughed. "Here's my referee gentlemen, a referee that can give the right decision every time. " Langford KO.'d Smith In four rounds.

After what happened to Smith, no British boxer would face Langford, so he returned to North America where he met and defeated anyone who dared step in the ring with him. Billy Tate, a negro hercules, bragged in the newspapers that he could knock that half pint, Lang ford, to bits. He got his chance. On the night of the fight, Langford and his seconds entered the ting, and to the wonderment of the crowd, measured off with some chalk a section of the canvass. Then the bout started. Sam swatted the giant about the ring. In the fifth he connected with a thumping right, and Tate folded. His body lay just inside the area Sam had chalked off. Not only did Langford lay Tate out when he wanted, but where he wanted as well!

In 1910 a certain sports editor named Walker penned Langford terribly, he said that Jimmy Flynn, the noted American heavyweight, could flatten him with his first punch. Langford agreed to take him on. When Sam had Flynn all set up, he shouted to Mr. Walker, who sat in the first row, "Hey, Mr. Walker! Here comes your champion " and Langford socked him so hard that Flynn was knocked clear out of the ring and dropped smack into Walker's lap! At twenty-seven, Sam became a real heavyweight. At 5'6" he weighed a solid 180 pounds., His measurements Were enormous his arms were 17" and his chest 471/2 . He was Invincible.

Years passed. In 1920, at 34, he was going as strong as ever, bowling over opponents right and left. At 36 he was matched with the celebrated Tiger Flowers. Round four. Langford, as was his style, took a great deal of the blows on his head. All of a sudden he looked for Flowers but couldn't see him. Everything before him was blurred. The ring floor, the referee and his opponent weren't there! "There was something the matter for the moment with my eyes." Sam kept cool "I'll let Flowers come and get me and then I ..." Flowers obliged and when in close, Sam put all he had behind one punch. He heard a gasp and then a thud, Flowers was flat on his back! Sam worked his way back to his comer. The doctors warned Sam that the optic nerve in his head had been severely injured that one eye was blind and the other so badly damaged that If he didn't stop fighting he would lose the sight of that one, also. But Langford was broke. If I can only earn some money, he'd Say, then I'll be able to retire. A year later, more than half blind, he KO'd the champion of Spain and after that his old rival, Jimmy Flynn.

In 1928, still boxing at the age of 41, he came back to Weymouth, his home town, and planned to settle down on a small farm. But the drastic need of an eye operation made him change his plans. The operation, In New York City, was unsuccessful, and soon after he went completely blind. But he was not forgotten.

In 1937, Mayor LaGuardia, one of his admirers, heard of his plight and got him a job, and several years ago, the American statesman, Jim Farley, with some friends, sponsored a ring show for Langford's benefit.

 

In sports, a good big man usually beats a good little man, and this is especially true in combat sports. Pick a combat sport….Wrestling, K-1, Boxing, kick boxing, judo, karate, MMA, whatever. It is rare to see a person 50 pounds lighter beat a top rated person in another weight class.

These are facts SuzieQ. Langford was a great fighter, but he have the problems I said he would based on watching him on film, and reading about him.

 

Sammy was past prime when he took out a peak Wills twice, once in 14 rounds, and once in 19, decking Harry multiple times. This leaves little doubt that he could handle any superheavyweight he could get to. (Let's not forget that in modern times, an aged and overweight James Toney has competed effectively against superheavyweights, and Mike Spinks had a heavyweight career which was nothing to sneeze at despite weighing only 170 pounds for David Sears shortly before facing Holmes.) Sam would have had trouble getting to Willard, who used his height extremely well to ride out Jack Johnson's punches, and probably any heavyweight of Willard's height and reach who used those advantages to good defensive purposes. But too many lighter weight champions have won HW championships as obese athletes in recent years for a blanket statement cavalierly dismissing a peak Langford's chances against modern superheavyweights to be made strictly based on Sam's size. At his best, he had far more experience than all of today's top heavyweights combined.

A past prime Mickey Walker also competed very well with heavyweights, only getting battered by a near peak ATG Schmeling. (Mick was clearly robbed of a 15 round decision over a peak Jack Sharkey.)

Once again, no, Langford wasn't sticking needles in his ass to inflate himself, nor was he gorging like a pig, but his incredible experience may well have been enough to off-set the so-called "modern" advances supposedly enjoyed by today's performers.

I've enjoyed Langford's youtube footage a number of times. Among the things which impress me are the reactions and respect the threat of his power elicits from Bill Lang and Jim Flynn. Lang retreats continually, trying to use his reach to keep his distance. The Fireman, being smaller and shorter than Lang, attempts to use his greater weight to smother Sam's power on the inside. Neither succeeds. Flynn's five defeats to Langford over a span of 15 years spelled the difference between the Fireman retiring with an overall winning or losing career record. When he retired in 1925, he was four bouts in the red with an official 47(33)-51(23)-18 ledger (and barely nine years away from a fatal heart attack).

Langford/Fireman Flynn III is especially a treat to study carefully because Sam had just turned 27 years old a couple of weeks earlier, and was in the midst of a 57 fight, five and a half year undefeated streak. (L 15 Y'g P. Jackson, Jun. 16, 1906 - L 15 Sam McVey, Dec. 26, 1911.) Consider also that while Langford had previously won over the 20 rounds distance, this third bout with the Fireman was the first (and as near as I can determine, the only) scheduled 45 rounder of Sam's storied career. Therefore, this is excellent quality footage (by 1910 standards) of the absolutely best conditioned version of Langford to ever step foot in the ring.

So while footage of a past prime Harry Greb versus a pre-peak Mickey Walker has yet to come to general release, we can actually view footage of a peak Sam Langford, this fabled legend, at our leisurely convenience. How much better can it possibly get for those of us who are enthusiastic aficionados of boxing history? (Before he turned 27, Langford already had 86 official contests under his belt, against most of the best in the business. Think you'll ever see THAT again?)

 

But based more on resume and accounts I'd assume.

 

Wasn't there going to be a book published on Sam Langford's career soon? I think Adam Pollack mentions it in his book on John L Sullivan.

 

'Sam Langford, Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion' by Clay Moyle will be available via www.amazon.com sometime later this month, or May at the latest. It is a hardcover with dust jacket, approximately 448 pages, and will include over 95 photographs, many of which will have never been seen by most. The publisher is Bennett & Hastings. Price $29.95.
The book is reviewed in the March Boxing Collectors Newsletter and has also received the following initial reviews:
Langford book reviews:
“As the title of this book indicates, Sam Langford was, indeed, an “uncrowned champion” – one of the greatest pound-for-pound pugilists ever to step through the ropes. The only reason Langford never held a world title was that no champion gave him a chance to fight for the crown, even though Sam was eminently qualified.
Now, the “uncrowned champion” has found a champion in Clay Moyle, an eminent boxing historian. This book gives Langford the recognition he has deserved for such a long time.
Langford was small in stature, but he was larger than life. He was capable of knocking opponents twice his size colder than a mackerel. Had there been any justice in the world of the early 1900s, Langford would have been champion of the middleweight, light-heavyweight and heavyweight divisions.
Moyle’s epic chronicle of Langford’s life in and out of the ring redresses the fighter’s slide into obscurity during the half-century since his death. The author deftly balances the triumphs and tragedies of this extraordinary man’s career.
This book is a must-read, from the opening bell to the last.
Charles R. Saunders, author of Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers from the Halifax Forum to Ceasars Palace”

“With his richly detailed new biography, Clay Moyle has restored the indomitable Sam Langford to his rightful place in the history of American Sports – and demonstrates along the way that Jack Johnson was right when he called Langford ‘the toughest little son of a ***** that ever lived.
Geoffrey Ward, author of Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson”
“Sixty-four years ago, a blind and indigent Sam Langford was re-discovered through an award winning article published in the New York Herald Tribune. Now, in 2008, Clay Moyle ‘discovers’ Langford anew – in greater depth and with remarkable clarity. In tenaciously applying the forensic skills of a seasoned sports historian and archivest, Moyle plots a stunning tale which is set against the backdrop of the pervasive racial mores of the times in which Langford lived and fought, and in the process reclaims for posterity the life and career of one of boxing’s truly great figures.”
- Adeyinka Makinde, author of Dick Tiger: The Life and Times of a Boxing Immortal.


Film of an entire 1913 fight between Joe Jeannette & Langford exists. I know that at least 3 collectors have it. I have witnessed that fight and Langford knocks Jeannette all over the ring.

 

That is excellent news, will be buying a copy....