Sam Langford Welter Title Fights

Sam Langford puas tau yog ib qhov loj tshaj quj quj fighters txhua lub sij hawm. Yug rau lub peb hlis ntuj 4, 1883 nyob rau hauv cov kev uas yuav ntog Weymouth, Nova Scotia, Nws yog qhov loj tshaj Canadian boxer txhua lub sij hawm. Nws ntaus hauj lwm stretched ntawm 1900 mus 1926.

Langford tsuas sawv 5 taw rau thiab ib nrab nti siab thiab weighed 185 phaus thaum nws heaviest. He fought in ever weight class from lightweight to heavyweight, which was rare even at the turn of the 20th Century.

Nyob rau hauv 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 phaus, so he missed the lightweight limit of 135 phaus.

Langford was not yet considered a tremendous boxer because the St. Koom pheej Louis 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.

Nyob rau hauv 1904, Langford challenged Barbados Joe Walcott for the World Welterweight Boxing Championship. The bout took place on Monday, Cuaj hlis 5, 1904. Raws li kev ua si yuav luag txhua writers, leej twg kam them tus bout ntawm lub pas dej Massebesic nyob rau hauv Manchester, New Hampshire, Langford kom meej meej outpointed tus tau zus ib. Langford txawm poob Walcott rau cov peb muab tiamsis Walcott tuav cov Suav thiab tas cov sib ntaus.

Ua ntej txoj cai niaj hnub nyob hauv tus 1920 los, nws twb tsis txawv qhov referee xib taws qhov txiav txim hauv fights mus ntawd yuav. Thaum twg tus referee txais nws ib tug kos, tus 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. Txawm li cas los, both contestants were black, so it wasn’t racial prejudice on the part of the referee. Yog tsis unheard of mus tswj kom them referees saib lawv txoj kev fighters tus txiav txim siab kaw yam.

Kuv nyeem qhov xov xwm tso nyiaj ntawm no bout ntau nqi ntawv xov xwm txog lub sij hawm. Nws yog paub tias txawm sawv daws muaj kev yeej Langford, 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. Retiring ntawm 39, Langford lived a relatively long life dying in 1956 tom 72 xyoo. Hmoov tsis, very little footage exists of Langford, so his greatness has been lost to most boxing fans.

Koj yuav tawm ib saib los nug cov lus nug txog qhov no, los yog tej qho hauv tshooj nram qab no, ntawm kuv Facebook phab thiab Twitter profile.

Pin It