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     Cmoyle First Time Poster Username: Cmoyle Post Number: 1 Registered: 10-2008 Rating: N/A |
Carey, Troy, & Rondall, a buddy of mine forwarded me this thread and asked if I'd seen it. I wrote the Sam Langford book. I urge you guys to investigate his career further and decide for yourself. No offense, but the 83 year old uncle would have been born one year before Langford had the last fight of his career. There's way too much ground for me to cover concerning his greatness in this post, but I assure you there is no fluff in the secondary part of my books title 'Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion'. I challenge anyone to produce a greater uncrowned champion than Sam Langford. This 5' 7" dynamo started out as a lightweight and ultimately fought and defeated many of the greatest heavyweights of his era. Really never any more than an overblown light heavyweight, Sam knocked out some of the biggest heavyweights in game, Harry Wills included. In fact, I believe a strong case could be made for Langford as the greatest pound for pound figher in boxing's history. It's true that Wills had the better of their long series of fights, but it's also true that Sam was on the downside of his long career by the time he started fighting the younger and MUCH bigger Wills. But don't take my word for it, here's some quotes from some of his contemporaries: Jack Dempsey: "The hell I feared no man. There was one man, he was even smaller than I, I wouldn't fight because I knew he would flatten me. I was afraid of Sam Langford." Jack Johnson: "Sam Langford was the toughest little son of a ••••• that ever lived." Jack Johnson: "I don't want to fight that little black smoke. He's got a chance to win against anyone in the world. I'm the first black champion and I'm going to be the last." Frank Erne (former lightweight champion): "I'd pick him to knock out Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano. When he was not under wraps, he was a ring marvel." Founding Ring magazine editor, Nat Fleischer, rated the little man the 7th greatest heavyweight of all time. (Fleischer saw both Langford and Wills fight) Harry Wills: "He was a real professional, the kind of fighter you'd like to be but know that no matter how hard you try you'll never make it. Same never made a mistake, he always held command and when he knocked me out in New Orleans in 1916, I thought I'd been killed." Harry Wills: "...the hardest blows any of them ever landed on me were like a slap in the face from a woman compared to those bone-crushing wallops of Langford. They seemed to go right through you." And as for the quality of his competition, well, he fought the best of those during his era that were willing to face him, and he had over 300 recorded professional fights. By the way, he fought the last one-third of his career blind in one eye. Like I said fellas, sorry for making this sound like a commercial for my book, but do yourself a favor and learn more about this great fighter. If you don't believe me, ask some of the serious boxing guys you'll find on websites like www.cyberboxingzone.com, www.eastsideboxing.com, or www.boxrec.com |