This dude would shake the boxing world or maybe the whole world like a prime mike tyson did back in the late eighties. height may be a small issue but thats it, we know that small fighters can get in if they know how to. a good example is dwight muhammad qawi who once beat a 6'5 cruiserweight. Langford had a huge left hook, tua like. and his overall power was feared all the way upto the heavyweights, many fighters heavyweights of the day said they had never been hit harder after fighting ol sam, names like harry wills and jim flynn to name few. Power wasnt an issue. Skill? This guy forgot more tricks than many guys no nowadays, he was awesome. stylistically similar to james toney, and joe frazier. someone once told me they watched a very rare fight of langord against jeanette. he said sams style if very similar to joe fraziers, without the constant bobbing, he was more stand up than crouching. other reports say he was more like toney. Skill certainly wasnt an issue. Sam also had a pretty tight defense and could take a helluva shot Imo he can win titles from lightweight all the way upto heavyweight, but i wont be surprised if he loses a dicision here and there.
Sam would have no chance with today's heavies and cruisers. He was fat and very inconsistent in his day at those weights and the folks he fought were cavemen compared to today's fighters. Properly trained, he would be a terror at welter and middle.
Sam would be a serious pain in the ass to ANY modern fighter who stepped into the ring with him! Coming along in today's world, I think he would start off as a 160 middleweight, then move up quickly to capture a 168 super-middleweight crown. Later he would move to 175 light heavyweight and capture a belt there. As time marched on he would capture a heavyweight crown at around 205. As he aged he would celebrate his late career by grabbing the 200 cruiserweight crown and whatever other weight class they sandwiched in between light heavy and cruiser by that time. Even after he was over the hill, no beltholder that interested him (and would fight him) would be safe between light heavyweight and heavyweight...until he retired...which would cause a collective huge sigh of relief from all concerned...in my opinion.
"Sam sparring. Looks fat doesn't he? That's Wills on the left." That is not Harry Wills on the left in the photo on the first page of this thread. I don't remember who that is now, but it was nobody significant as a fighter. Wills was much bigger than that fellow. I've seen the photo before, and remember the individual was identified, but don't recall the name now.
if he turned pro today, this very day he would be very lucky as calzaghe is now retired seriously he wins tittles at every weight these days
For some reason I fell his best weight was around 168. I think he would clean that division out move to 175. I think Hopkins and Dawson can give him problems and even beat him. I think he would do about as well as he would do at 168 as he would at 200. I think he is too small to be truly effective at 201 +
Fellas, Wills was 6' 3" and 210 to 230 lbs. Take a look at the size of that fellow in the picture in comparison to 5' 7" Sam Langford. There is no way that is Harry Wills. Somewhere amongst all of my Langford related files I have that photo with an accompanying caption identifying who that is, but it could be anywhere. If/when I come across it again I will let you know what it says.
Wait a minute, I think I may have misunderstood you guys. I thought you were saying that photo was of Langford sparring with Wills, but you're just saying that's Wills in the robe in the background watching the two guys sparring, right? Here's a link to site with the photo identifying the name of the guy he's sparring with in that photo: http://www.boxingtreasures.com/samlaspwialb.html
To be honest ,I posted that it was Wills WATCHING ,but thought as the guy sparring with Langford was WHITE, my post looked a bit condescending ,so I edited it.The guy sparring with Langford is Albert Badoux, Wills is to the left watching ,Sam Mcvey is also in the photo ,but I am damned if I can spot him.