SAMMY LANGFORD - AN ALL TIME GREAT !!

**BIG H** · 01-22-2006 12:51 AM

Yeh, he's another one of those guys, who just didn't know when to pack it in!

**Purist** · 01-22-2006 03:18 AM

Originally Posted by means2184

yea hes one of teh sadder storys in boxing taht show boxings sad side cause he died blind and poor in a nursing home in the 50's ...

wasn't one of his legs gone too

**FBEAR** · 01-22-2006 03:30 AM

I only learned about a week ago during research for another thread that he was born in Canada, didn't know that before actually.

**p4pking** · 01-22-2006 04:45 AM

Yea probably best Canadian fighter ever.. Not sure he really had any choice as whether to pack it in too, life would be so rough for a black fighter those todays he probably earned very little and fighting was all he could do.. He still won some fights impressivly by KO against good opponents as an old man, mostly blind..

**rob7022000** · 01-26-2006 07:11 PM

Great info and thanks for this thread.

What i don't get is if he was born in Canada, how he managed to end up with the Welsh title?

**p4pking** · 01-26-2006 10:30 PM

He had to fight abroad in order to get any title shot, if you look at his record the last part of his real career was in Mexico, he won the Mexican Heavyweight title it was the only shot he could get.. He also held the world "Colored" Heavyweight championship for a LONG time, while Jack Johnson was world champ, thats why the rematch should have happened..

**rob7022000** · 01-27-2006 04:40 PM

Ahh thanx for teh explaination p4p

**mokele** · 02-12-2006 06:24 PM

I just found these on the internet:

http://www.antekprizering.com/langford2015.jpeg
http://www.antekprizering.com/langfordsam2017.jpeg
http://www.antekprizering.com/langfordsam2027.jpeg (Sam McVey is the taller, more chiseled man)

For sure the "Boston Tar Baby" as Langford was called was a well-proportioned man of 5'8" and anwhere between 156 lbs. and a little over 190 lbs. He fought constantly, usually fighting around once per month on average, and fought all the other great black heavyweights of his day: Sam McVea, Joe Jeanette, Harry Wills, George Godfrey. He beat all of them but also took many losses, understandable since he was usually the far smaller man.

He beat Wills twice (losing 6 or 7 times) by knockout in 1914 and again in 1916, which in and of itself is amazing, considering that Wills was 6'3" and typically weighed between 205 and 225 lbs.

He also fought the big (6'4", 210 lb.) white heavyweight Fred Fulton a couple of times, losing both by knockout. Fulton was 1 of the very best heavyweights of his day although Dempsey stopped him in the 1st round in 1918 and Wills knocked him out in 3 in 1920. Fulton lived to be 82 years old, amazing for a guy who had over 100 fights. He also had the distinction of fighting perhaps 1 of the dirtiest fighters of all time, Carl Morris. Here's a quote from their fight in 1917:

"The bout was ended after Morris had fouled Fulton so often that Referee Hinkel was obliged to disqualify the Oklahoman. The contest was to have decided which of the two was the better qualified to meet Jess Willard in a heavyweight title match. Newspapers reported that Morris "violated every rule of boxing and of good sportsmanship.""

Sound familiar?