Hmm, I can't think of anyone who emulated a lot of what Sam did. Holy fought guys who had aspects of his game, like Ruiz's ridiculous amount of clinching, Qawi's dimensions, the power he brought to the table, ect; but I can't think of one guy. I'll get back to you.
Langford fought 11 prime years at HW and he wasn't stopped until Fulton fight when he was past prime and had health problems. He fought very often against really good competition and he fought bigger punchers than Holyfield.
Well, he fought a lot of brawlers. I'm struggling to think of the classy, boxer-punchers who used such brilliant counter punching and combos, though.
Joe Jeanette wasn't a slugger but he wasn't similar to Evander either. I don't know enough about this era to be honest.
That would make sense, since Evander isn't a slugger. Neither, I know the basics of the HWs, Wills/McVea/Johnson ect. and I know a fair few of the guys below like O'Brian, Ketchel, Gans and I have a rough idea of Blackburn, Flowers and O'Brian, but I'd also like to know more.
But Holyfield is a league above anyone he fought. Holyfield stopped Qawi, Tyson, Douglas, Rahman, De leon, Occasio, Thomas and Dokes - all world champions. Holyfield's era had far far more depth in terms of active fighters and technique had improved drastically.
Unfortunately not but you can find far more boxers on boxrec from the 80s than you can from the 00s or 10s. Not only that but boxing was illegal in many states during this time. There was no amateur boxing system in place where boxers learn their craft. Because of the small group of competitors Langford fought the same opponents many times. So he has 21 fights with Harry Wills alone. Champions like Corbett only had 20 fights, Jeffries 24.
Langford didn't fight in Jeffries or Corbett era though. Langford had more fights than any 1990s fighter. I think that you mistake 1890s with 1910s...
Yes but he was mainly fighting the same group of fighters. Boxing really blew up after people saw how much money Dempsey was making. There started to be far more boxers in the 30s, 40s and 50s Out of the active pro boxers - they're the best of the amateurs that have already had 100s of fights.
I mean, iirc, the facts actually show the sport was on an upward trend around the 1910/20s, and peaked in the 30s. Fighters in the 1910s were infinitely more active than the ones in the 1990s. Corbett and Jeffries weren't apart of Langford's era... and they were proper HWs, Langford was a lower weighing guy and they always fought more. Wills and Langford didn't have 21 fights, they had something like 17/18 fyi.
If I remember correctly, boxing popularity peaked between 1920s and 1930s. I'm positive that more athletic people wanted to become boxers in 1910s than in 1990s. Back then there were few other options, meanwhile in 1990s you have a lot of sports that have just as much money if not more. No fighter from 1990s have as many fights as Langford, even counting amateur fights.
