Where should Sam Langford be ranked as an all-time heavyweight ?

It's worth noting though that he beat Wills twice out of 20 fights or something and lost to him 13 times if I remember correctly. He has very good wins though over Wills himself, McVea, Jeannette and Gunboat Smith to name a few, so he would rank certainly top 20 for me, probably top 15. I would personally rate him as the G.O.A.T though on a p4p basis.

 

First keep in mind you are basically ranking a middleweight if he stayed at his prime weight ... how many middleweights do we even ask this question about ? None other than Langford ...

The real question is where he rates pound for pound ... at heavyweight he would devastate most but the biggest guys with the big jabs would give him trouble as Wills did late in his career ... keep in mind Wills was over 6'2" and 220 ... Fulton gave him trouble as well, tall man, long jab ...

I think Langford would surprise in who he would defeat ... I would give him a hell of a shot against Joe Louis ... Galento tagged Joe and rocked him ... the cagey, iron jawed Langford could get one in and Joe would never recover ..I think he would KO Marciano as well ...Dempsey too ...

I just think the Ali's and the Holmes were too big, quick and able to box and stay away ...

 

While I will not say Langford would beat the best of all time, he could. Sam had an attacking two-fisted type of style. He loved to mix it up, could cut off the ring, and had power in both fists. His speed, and skills look solid even on older films.

In my judgment Langford's chin at heavyweight was on par or better than fellow attack oriented swarmers in Jack Dempsey's, or Rocky Marciano’s!

I say this because from 11-12-1906 to 5-11-1971 Langford was in 114 fights, mostly at heavyweight. And you know something he was never stopped in that period despite facing big punchers like Wills, and McVey multiple times. Now that is one heck of a chin.

Fred Fulton did the trick in 6-19-1917, but the TKO stoppage loss was a on cuts.

 

You have to see Sam Langford in real time speed to appreciate him. I suggested that poster Upwithevil slow down or speed up the rounds so they end at 3:00 even. At this speed, you can really see how good Langford is. While it is not perfect, it is a revelation.

When taking about Langford, some refer to him as small. I have seen Langford’s work out clips with a clear film. Actually, Sam had long arms, broad shoulders, and lumberjack’s back, and thick legs of steel. Langford was not small, a better description of him is extremely compact.

 

Langford just sneaks into the top ten heavyweights for me.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Dempsey quote I read said that he was afraid to face Langford when he was young and 'up and coming'. Dempsey went on to say that even at his peak, he wasn't sure he could beat a prime Sam.

It's not quite the same as saying he was afraid of fighting Langford, period. Dempsey also said once that he thought "Langford was the best fighter we ever had"

 

The loss to Fulton was not a cut, it was the fight where Sam first seriously injured his eye ...up to that point he simply could not get past the giant's jab ..

 

That´s where i rate him.

 

Thanks He Grant. On flim, Langford looks like he would have some trouble vs a long armed power jabber.

I think Fulton deserves some credit for the win, but Langford was past his prime by then.

By the way, are you the gentleman who produced the Larry Holmes documentary?

 

That is me ... I've just started to hang out at East Side as I have heard some good things about it and wanted a change ...

Let's keep Langford/Wills in perspective ....

one man was on the way up (Wills) while the other was clearly on the way down (Sam) ...add in poor vision and for the most part poor condition and combine the huge size difference and is there any wonder Wills for the most part dominated ? In addition, since Sam, even bloated and half blind still mostly dominated the rest of the heavyweights, it says tons about Wills who has way too easily been pushed aside by Dempsey fans as nothing special anyway when in reality Dempsey and team ducked him in the ulgyiest way imaginable ...

check out this photo...

http://www.josportsinc.com/catalog/view.php?id=8878

 

Lets not forgett though that the first thing to leave a fighter is his footwork and this might have been critical to Langfords losses to Fulton and for that matter Wills.

 

I saw a picture of an old Sam Langford with Joe Louis once.

While he is much shorter than Louis his head and torso are somewhat larger.

If you matched them in the ring then Louis would have advantages of height and reach but I would not say that he had an advantage in bulk or strength necisarily.

 

Call me crazy but I feel Sam stops Louis ...

 

It would always be on the cards.

A few people who saw them both thought that it would be so.