By John F. McKenna (McJack): Sam Langford was unquestionably one of the greatest fighters who ever lived. Sam was quite possible the best Pound for Pound fighter in the era he fought in, fifty years before that term was used.
He was born in 1883 in Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, Canada. Langford had a number of aliases among them the “Boston Terror” and the “Boston Bonecrusher” in addition to a number of aliases that had racial overtones. He stood only 5’6 ½” had a 17” neck, 15” biceps and a 42 ½” chest with a reach of 73”, which is unusual for a man of his stature.
During his career Langford fought from lightweight all the way up to heavyweight. Once Langford matured as a fighter his best weight was 165 pounds, although at times he did fight as a small heavyweight at 185 pounds.
Sam Langford had the misfortune of being a great black fighter in an era when black fighters received almost no recognition or compensation for their fistic accomplishments. The great heavyweight champion Jack Johnson refused a rematch for years with Langford after winning by a decision over him when Langford was only 20 years old. Johnson was 28 at the time and thought it too dangerous to offer Langford a rematch. Jack Dempsey who was just coming up when Langford was in his prime openly admitted that he feared Langford during his rise to the top. Years later when stories abounded that Dempsey feared no man, Demspsey retorted: “Like hell I feared no man! I feared Sam Langford!”
Ring Magazine’s Nat Fleischer rated Sam Langford one of the ten greatest heavyweights of all time despite the fact that he never held a title. The Ring also rated Langford #2 on the list of 100 greatest punchers, 2nd only to Joe Louis.
Langford was not just a slugger he could box from both inside and long range effectively. He was a brilliant tactician in the ring and seemed to sense what his opponent was going to do before he did it. He could instantly stop when retreating and revert to the offensive and in the blink of an eye render his opponent unconscious with a volley of trip hammer punches delivered from impossible angles. Langford’s ability to absorb punches from fighters who outweighed him by as much as fifty pounds was phenomenal.
Sam Langford was one of the few fighters in boxing history, who it could truly be said, was too talented for his own good. Top contenders in any weight class, be they white or black, simply avoided fighting him.
Langford fought and defeated numerous heavyweight contenders, including the highly touted Harry Wills, who he KO’d twice. Among the other heavyweight contenders Langford KO’d were Klondike Haynes, Jeff Clark, Gunboat Smith, Fireman Jim Flynn, 6’6” Big Bill Tate, Kid Norfolk and John Lester Johnson.
Sam Langford suffered detached retinas in both of his eyes in the twilight of his career, but continued to fight until he went totally blind. Most of Langford’s defeats were suffered after he began to lose his vision.
Boxing records were difficult to compile in the early part of the 20th century, but it is estimated that Langford scored 130 KO’s in his career. Sam retired and unretired as so many fighters do. He retired for good at the age of 43. Sam Langford passed away on June 12, 1956 at the age of 72.
It was said of Sam Langford that he was a great fighter in an era of great fighters.
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