Sam Langford The Best Fighter Of All Time?

I have Langford weighing heavier than that, 175lbs if memory serves, with Ketchel weighing 159. I take your point about the weights, but Joe Woodman:

"Philadelphia [for the first fight]...was the last place we wanted to be...we wanted the San Francisco fight [later in the year]...with Ketchel's title riding on the line and...$30,000...[promoter] Coffroth wouldn't accept unless I agreed to the Philadelphia six-rounder. Of course I was dead against it. We had nothing to gain but a few thousand dollars with everything to lose if anything went wrong."

Sam is on record as saying the plans for this second fight "affected" his performance in the first fight and a few contemporary reports have something fishy about the first fight. It does add up to some sort of secondry fight in the pipe.

Incidently, it seems odd that this one is listed as a win for Langford on boxrec. It seems that the press was totally split, if anything with a lean to Ketchel. Draw seems right, but there it is.

EDIT: I've been looking at this fight, and I was dead wrong with what I wrote here. Most publications do give it to Langford, although it's described as being very very close by almost everyone.

 

From Boxrec -

"7 [papers] had Langford ahead, 4 had Ketchel, and 2 had it a draw. Thus, the mark of a Langford newspaper win."

 

Well who knows? I guess the "last place we wanted to be" reference is to the conditions of the fight, rather than the physical place, however. I have no idea what happened a year before, but this is an interesting snippet form right before the first fight:

"Although the battle is to be nothing more than a six round affair, it promises lots of action from gong to gong, provided, of course, that the contest is not a neatly framed agreement between the principles to last the six round limit, with a view to getting a long route date and a fat purse later on."

That's from The Washington Herald. Interesting that the paper was to call exactly what might have happened. Nice work that man. Here's the headline from the same paper the day after the fight:

"LANGFORD PLANS ANOTHER GO - FUTURE BOUT SEEMS ASSURED AS RESULT OF KETCHEL FIGHT"

It goes on:

"The fight, on the surface at least, was a draw, but few of the experts doubted that it was a draw because the negro wished it. Everything is now smoothed for a fight to the finish between the two men...when the final bell rang last night at the National Athletic Club, those who understood the situation were satisfied that Langford was up to his old trick of saving a man he could beat in order to use him as a later meal ticket."

Sam says he told Ketchel at the end of the fight: "See you in San Fransisco Mr.Ketchel."

It's a snow job or the second fight was on.

 

Langford also called Ketchel the best white fighter he ever faced, and the most aggressive.