If you could spend an hour talking to any boxer in history - Who would it be and why?

[Greatest1942]

Without question my first choice would be Alexis Arguello, one of my favourite boxers, 1 hour is just not enough time for me to spend with the man.

Roberto Duran, great man with a good personality, met him a while a go, couldn't really understand much of what he was saying though
Would love to sit down and just listen to his stories or watch a fight with him. Could probably spend an hour just watching him jump rope.

P.S :- I did knwo something like this is shown in the movie the Joe Louis Story but no that just any other source mags, newspapers stuffs, reports, articles by old timers etc



Joe was very fond of Sam from what I gathered, there's a few pictures of them together quite early in Joe's career and Joe always looks so happy whenever he's there, quite a rare sight, most pictures of Joe are usually emotionless especially early in his career and around the time that Max beat him.

Joe liked Sam and respected him a lot. Blackburn thought he was the best of all old timers and Louis truly believed that...BUt out of curiosity where did you see those pics? I always read Sam was not in the know after his retirement. Willis went to the Louis camp regularly and even stated that "Joe is no sucker for the right hand" after the Schemelling fight...Can you just let me know the source , not that I doubt you.

P.s : I know about the Joe LOuis Story...But not that movie, no one can say that a movie is 100% right and is a unbiased source of info, but others like newspaper reports, old time articles , major historians like Hank Klapnan , Monte Cox comments etc on this...

[Sugarj]

I am sorry but i believe you are mistaking Harry Willis with Sam...And if there are any stories like this from a godd source do let me know. Taken from Monte Cox's website "Sam was living destitute in Harlem when newspaperman Al Laney of the New York Herald Tribune tracked him down and wrote a short series of stories on him in 1944. A sportswriter’s fund was established for Sam that cared for him until his death at the age of 72 on Jan. 12, 1956."

Here;s how Laney found Langford in "Langford had 20 cents in his pocket and was subsisting on a few dollars he received each month from a foundation for the blind. Twice a day, two young boys would come by and take him to a restaurant for breakfast and a second meal late in the afternoon. Langford told Laney that he the rest of his time sitting alone in his dark bedroom with only his radio for company.

When he’d gathered the information he needed for his story, Laney went back to the office and ****** out the story on his typewriter for the paper. But he didn’t stop there: He was so moved by Langford’s situation that he initiated a drive with a group of New York businessmen and -women that raised $10,892 for a trust fund for Langford. Among the 705 contributors were men fighters Jack Dempsey, Beau Jack, Fritzie Zivic, and Joe Louis, boxing promoter Mike Jacobs, and famed New York nightclub owner Toots Shore. Sam was provided with an initial payment of $125, followed by $75 per month until April of 1945, after which the balance of $9,000 was invested in an insurance company so that Langford would receive an annuity of $49.18 a month for life."

I have read a host of artciles on Sam and I believe you are mistaken here...Louis knew he will dismantle Max, when asked about their rematch Joe said "It got one in it".

You are right though that Sam was a charecter. In 1923 when he was practically blind and needed help from handlers to move around the ring he said “Don’t worry about little Sammy,” he said, “I don’t need to see that boy, I just got to feel him.” He knocked out Kid Savage to become the Mexican Heavyweight Champion. After retiring he went into hibernation and was discovered by Laney as mentioned above.

In a statement attributed to him a few months before his death, he said, “Don’t nobody need to feel sorry for old Sam. I had plenty of good times. I been all over the world. I fought maybe 600 fights, and every one was a pleasure!”

Hi Mate,

It was definitely Langford, not Wills. I recalled that it was dramatised in Louis's 1953 film biography. Langford was a good friend of 'Chappie Blackburn' so its no real suprise.

[Toney616]

Marvin Hagler, he is my favourite boxer ever but, so little is known about him he keeps himself to himself so I believe you could learn a lot from just 1 hour.
.

Read the Four Kings by George Kimball

[Greatest1942]

Hi Mate,

It was definitely Langford, not Wills. I recalled that it was dramatised in Louis's 1953 film biography. Langford was a good friend of 'Chappie Blackburn' so its no real suprise.

I already wrote "P.s : I know about the Joe LOuis Story...But not that movie, no one can say that a movie is 100% right and is a unbiased source of info, but others like newspaper reports, old time articles , major historians like Hank Klapnan , Monte Cox comments etc on this..."..

Man I am sorry but I ain't going bya movie...There is absolutely no other proof on this...Thi sis huge man Langford mentoring Joe, but no historian knows this nor are there any contemporary news papers writing about this. Wilis did give an interview atleast about Joe and Schemelling but not Sam...There are no newspaper reports on this that I know off , no historian tells about this not even in the Clay Moyle book of Sam Langford ( to the best of my knowledge)...It is a bit odd aint it? I can't go by a motion picture no matter how much based on truth it is..

[Sugarj]

I already wrote "P.s : I know about the Joe LOuis Story...But not that movie, no one can say that a movie is 100% right and is a unbiased source of info, but others like newspaper reports, old time articles , major historians like Hank Klapnan , Monte Cox comments etc on this..."..

Man I am sorry but I ain't going bya movie...There is absolutely no other proof on this...Thi sis huge man Langford mentoring Joe, but no historian knows this nor are there any contemporary news papers writing about this. Wilis did give an interview atleast about Joe and Schemelling but not Sam...There are no newspaper reports on this that I know off , no historian tells about this not even in the Clay Moyle book of Sam Langford ( to the best of my knowledge)...It is a bit odd aint it? I can't go by a motion picture no matter how much based on truth it is..

I'll see if I can dig up some other sources then. I'm sure I've read about this though too.

Langford was still alive at the time, he certainly could have argued about his inclusion. Plus Joe Louis himself will have surely seen the film (it was only a couple of years after he retired) and could have thought 'whats Langford doin there?'. If the movie really wanted sensationalise his life they could have thrown Jack Johnson in as well, whom Blackburn hated. But the film doesn't seem to deviate too much from what I've read and seen about Joe Louis.

I'll see what I can dig up........

[NChristo]

Joe liked Sam and respected him a lot. Blackburn thought he was the best of all old timers and Louis truly believed that...BUt out of curiosity where did you see those pics? I always read Sam was not in the know after his retirement. Willis went to the Louis camp regularly and even stated that "Joe is no sucker for the right hand" after the Schemelling fight...Can you just let me know the source , not that I doubt you.

P.s : I know about the Joe LOuis Story...But not that movie, no one can say that a movie is 100% right and is a unbiased source of info, but others like newspaper reports, old time articles , major historians like Hank Klapnan , Monte Cox comments etc on this...

I have the pictures in the Classic Boxing Pictures thread one of them is at Louis' training camp and another is where they're both with Tony Canzoneri, I'll edit this when I get them.

I've seen a few more out there too, I'll find them.

Edit:

It's a bit small but that is definitely Sam Langford at what looks like JL's training camp.

[Toney616]

My picks:
James Toney-I would want to talk to him about his smw career and why he seemed to let it all go to hell after the Jones loss
Archie Moore-I would want to talk to him about being a black boxer and trying to get respect in those times
Marciano-I would talk to him about how much heart/courage it took for him to achieve what he did

[Patty Tanager]

Not a boxer, but i'd love to sit down with a cup of tea (no ****) and talk to Bert Sugar for an hour.

[Barn]

Read the Four Kings by George Kimball

Have done...

Compared to other boxers all the details are very vague and very few information is told of his childhood days apart from the fact he was in the riots and main points like that but, it still does not go into an awful lot of detail.
He also does not have any biograpies or autobiographies except 1 which is 48 pages long and was written before Hagler vs Hearns.

[Sugarj]

I have the pictures in the Classic Boxing Pictures thread one of them is at Louis' training camp and another is where they're both with Tony Canzoneri, I'll edit this when I get them.

I've seen a few more out there too, I'll find them.

Edit:

It's a bit small but that is definitely Sam Langford at what looks like JL's training camp.

A very young looking Joe Louis too! Possibly circa 1936?