Sam Langford Fights for Welter Title

Sam Langford wordt beschouwd als een van de grootste pond voor pond vechters aller tijden. Born on March 4, 1883 in Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, he is considered the greatest Canadian boxer of all time. His fighting career stretched from 1900 naar 1926.

Langford alleen stond 5 voeten van zes en een halve centimeter lang en woog 185 pond op zijn zwaarste. He fought in ever weight class from lightweight to heavyweight, which was rare even at the turn of the 20th Century.

In 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 pond, so he missed the lightweight limit of 135 pond.

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

In 1904, Langford challenged Barbados Joe Walcott for the World Welterweight Boxing Championship. The bout took place on Monday, September 5, 1904. Volgens bijna alle sport-schrijvers, die betrekking had op de bout op Lake Massebesic in Manchester, New Hampshire, Langford duidelijk outpointed de kampioen. Langford zelfs gedaald Walcott in de derde ronde, maar Walcott sloeg de graaf en eindigde de strijd.

Voorafgaand aan de moderne regels in de jaren 1920, Het was niet ongebruikelijk voor de scheidsrechter om de enige rechter in gevechten die de afstand ging zijn. Wanneer de scheidsrechter verklaarde het een gelijkspel, de 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. Echter, both contestants were black, so it wasn’t racial prejudice on the part of the referee. Het was niet ongehoord voor managers om scheidsrechters te besteden aan de dingen hun strijders weg zien in het geval van een moeilijke beslissing.

Ik lees het nieuws rekeningen van dit gevecht uit verschillende kranten van de tijd. Het is veelzeggend dat, hoewel iedereen voelde Langford gewonnen, 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. Ironisch, 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. Pensioen aan 39, Langford lived a relatively long life dying in 1956 bij 72 jaar. Helaas, very little footage exists of Langford, so his greatness has been lost to most boxing fans.

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