Sam Langford Fights for Welter Title

Sam Langford est considéré comme l'un des plus grands combattants livre pour livre de tous les temps. Born on March 4, 1883 dans Weymouth chutes, Nouvelle-Écosse, he is considered the greatest Canadian boxer of all time. His fighting career stretched from 1900 to 1926.

Langford ne se 5 pieds six pouces et demi de haut et pesait 185 livres à son plus lourd. He fought in ever weight class from lightweight to heavyweight, which was rare even at the turn of the 20th Century.

Dans 1903, he defeated Joe Gans in a non-title lightweight bout. It would have been for the title but Langford couldn’t get any lower than 138 livres, so he missed the lightweight limit of 135 livres.

Langford was not yet considered a tremendous boxer because the St. Louis République reporter was very dismissive of his victory. Gans did well for the first three rounds but Langford scored several powerful shots in the 4th Round. Whether Langford’s stronger punches took the toll on Gans or he simply didn’t train well for such a lightly regarded challenger, Gans began to slow. Langford dominated the final eight rounds. Gans only success in the fight was in not being knocked out.

Dans 1904, Langford challenged Barbados Joe Walcott for the World Welterweight Boxing Championship. The bout took place on Monday, September 5, 1904. Selon presque tous les journalistes sportifs, qui a couvert le combat au lac Massebesic à Manchester, New Hampshire, Langford outpointed clairement le champion. Langford même chuté Walcott au troisième tour mais Walcott a battu le comte et a terminé la lutte.

Avant de règles modernes dans les années 1920, il n'était pas rare pour l'arbitre d'être le seul juge dans les combats qui sont allés la distance. Lorsque l'arbitre a déclaré un tirage, the 1,200 paying customers yelled about the perceived robbery. It was not unusual for black fighters to lose close decisions to keep the titles on white champions. Cependant, both contestants were black, so it wasn’t racial prejudice on the part of the referee. Il n'était pas rare pour les gestionnaires de payer les arbitres à voir les choses à leur façon combattants dans le cas d'une décision serrée.

J'ai lu les comptes de nouvelles de ce combat de plusieurs journaux de l'époque. Il est révélateur que, même si tout le monde pensait Langford a remporté, no one was surprised. Controversial decisions were business as usual. Promoters and managers would fix fights by fixing the judges.

Sam Langford would be frozen out of a heavyweight title shot. Ironically, Jack Johnson, the first black World Heavyweight Boxing Champion would refuse to fight all other African-American fighters. Johnson won the decision in his only bout with Langford before Johnson won the title. Many ringside observers felt Langford had actually won the fight but lost another controversial decision. Johnson refused to ever fight Langford again.

Langford won the World Colored Heavyweight Boxing Championship. His greatest rival was probably Sam McVey. Langford fought over 256 bouts. Retraite à 39, Langford lived a relatively long life dying in 1956 à 72 ans. Malheureusement, very little footage exists of Langford, so his greatness has been lost to most boxing fans.

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