sugar ray robinson vs sam langford

[Greatest1942]

That is pretty crazy. But I don't know how this fight turns out. We have almost no footage on langford. not way to truly judge him

I have seen some foot age of Langford and I do see him as a strong man. With good reflexes.

Sam knocked out guys over 200 pounds with one punch. I doubt Robinson as great as he was could bear that smack.

When Robinson went up in weight to fight Maxim, he could not knock the guy out and quit due to heat exhaustion. He never tried again to move up. I doubt he will knock Sam out. Sam was around 175-180 and I think he knocks out Robinson...

Dont get me wrong , Robinson had a great chin, but even at middle he was hurt a lot . I doubt he could bear the punch of a guy who regularly floored 200 pound guys with his punches.

[Terry A]

He beat all time greats from lightweight to heavyweight. How is a man like that over rated?

My dear friend, I have so much respect for you. You're one of my very favorite members here. But I have to respectfully ask you to name the "all time greats" Langford beat.

In the thread "Unpopular Opinion Thread", my post #91 read as follows...

************************************************** ********
Over the years, I've tried hard to figure out exactly what it was that guys saw about Langford to warrant being called "great". But try as I may, I just can't figure it out.

Follow this for a minute.....

So Harry Wills beats Sam langford 13-14 times over their careers & that's "explained" away by saying, well, Sam was "31 AND had had over 115 fights."

Ok, so if that's a concession that he was somehwat washed up, over the hill or had seen his better days by then, then let's cut off that later part of his career from age 31 on & just examine his earlier career. (Although every other fighter is judged as a whole over their entire career. many others were NOT over-the-hill at a mere 31)

In Sam's 1st 16 fights, his opponants combined record was 25-82, w/ numerous draws & NC's.

When Sam Langford was 29-3, he was KO'ed in 8 vs Joe Jeanette, who was 3-1-1 at the time they fought.

Just to help me along here, exactly what causes you & others to rank him so high over his contemporaries? I'm not trying to be a smart a$$ here, I'm really lost on what some guys see in his credentials.

From when he started till he was 31, exactly who did he beat that puts him in the upper echolon of great fighters?

Name the fighters he beat that causes him to be rated so high. And, of those he beat, how many of those same men beat HIM in return or other matches?

Please don't say the decisons went against him because he was a black fighter. Most everybody he fought was also black.

He seems to have largely made his reputation beating up Sam McVea & Joe Jeanette, when they weren't beating him up also. Wills has an overwhelming win % against Langford. When you do look over his record, look at all the lesser fighters who beat him.

He did beat Joe Gans when they were both Jr Weletweights.

I have nothing at all against Sam Langford. I actually like him as a fighter because he fought on when blind & had loads of heart. But all them black fighters (Harry Wills, Sam McVea, Joe Jeanette, Peter Jackson, Langford) had equally hard lives & hard careers. They basically beat on each other. But of all them guys, Harry Wills was (in my own unpopular opinion) the best of them.

In a head-to-head match up, here's some stats....

Harry Wills 6'2' record of 68-9-3 w/ 54KOs

Sam Langford 5'6 1/2 with a record of 178-48-40 w/ 129 KO's.

Their records are approx. The Ring Record Book, BoxingRec.com & other ****zine articles over the years all give varying numbers, much like Archie Moore's KO record numbers vary.
************************************************** ********


Poet gave an as usual very intelligent reply that made sense regarding Sam's legendary status in post # 96. But he also didn't name names.

As for this fight, I'll take Ray Robinson from 147-160. After that, Langford has much more experience with bigger men then Robinson did, so it gets progressively harder for Robinson as their weights increase.

*Edited to add- It's not that I don't think that Langford was a great fighter, it's that I think Harry Wills was the better of the two. And Wills is all but forgotten while Langford's legacy seems to grow with each passing year. As I mentioned to you before, try as I may, I just can't seem to grasp what it is that others see in sam to say he was better then Harry Wills.

[JAB5239]

My dear friend, I have so much respect for you. You're one of my very favorite members here. But I have to respectfully ask you to name the "all time greats" Langford beat.

Joe Gans
Jack Blackburn
Draw with Joe Walcott
Joe Janette
Stanley Ketchel
Philadelphia Jack O'Brien
Sam McVea
Harry Wills
Kid Norfolk

The list of top contenders is numerous over several weight classes and I would have to go through his record to name them. But Langford beat the very best fighters from every division with the exception of Jack Johnson who ducked him for years.