Samuel Edgar Langford (March 4, 1886 – January 12, 1956) was a Canadian professional boxer who competed from 1902 to 1926. Called the "Greatest Fighter Almost Nobody Knows" by ESPN, Langford is considered by many boxing historians to be one of the greatest fighters of all time. Originally from Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts as a teenager, and began his professional boxing career there in 1902. Langford was known as "the Boston Bonecrusher", "the Boston Terror", and, most famously, "the Boston Tar Baby". Langford stood and weighed in his prime. He fought from lightweight to heavyweight and defeated many world champions and legends of the time in each weight class. Considered a devastating puncher even at heavyweight, The Ring rated Langford second on their list of the "100 greatest punchers of all time". One boxing historian described Langford as "experienced as a heavyweight James Toney with the punching power of Mike Tyson".
He was denied a shot at many World Championships due to the colour bar and the refusal of Jack Johnson, the first African-American World Heavyweight Champion, to fight him in a rematch. Langford was the World Colored Heavyweight Champion, a title vacated by Johnson after he won the World Championship, a record five times. Alongside this, Langford also defeated the reigning Lightweight Champion Joe Gans, the first African-American World Champion in boxing history and widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, in a non-title bout. Many boxing aficionados consider Langford to be the greatest boxer not to have won a world title. On August 13, 2020, the WBC granted Langford an honorary world champion title. BoxRec ranks him as the 22nd greatest Canadian boxer of all time.
Early life Sam Langford was born in Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, a rural black community that his grandfather, a former slave from the United States, helped settle. His birthdate was reported as March 4, 1886, although he later stated that this "is just a date he thought up." His brother, Reverend Charles Langford, was reportedly the first person to each Sam to box. However, their father was abusive, and so Langford left home as a youth.
He first worked as a fisherman in Grand Manan, from whence traveled, by boat and on foot, to Boston, Massachusetts, where he eventually found work as a janitor in the boxing gymnasium of the Lenox Athletic Club. He was scouted by the owner of the club after sparring with the boxers training there. He won the amateur featherweight championship of Boston at age 15."BOXING AT THE ROANOKES", The Boston Post, January 14, 1902, pg. 3
Professional career
Langford boxed in multiple weight classes, including the lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, and heavyweight divisions. However, Langford never received a chance to fight for Jack Johnson's heavyweight title, and he was never able to secure a world title for himself.
Early career
Sam Langford debuted as a lightweight boxer on April 11th, 1902, when he was 16. He fought Jack McVicker, whom he had also fought as an amateur. He won this match by knockout. Soon after, he began taking matches on a rapid and regular basis. By December of 1903, Buffalo News remarked that Langford had taken an average of one fight a week for several months on end, describing him as "indefatigable".
Langford fought 15 rounds against reigning lightweight champion Joe Gans on December 8th, 1903 in Boston. The National Police Gazette noted that Gans had the advantage going into the sixth round, but Langford took the lead thereafter. Buffalo News concurred, stating that Langford "appeared to be somewhat afraid" of Gans for the first three rounds, but by the last eight he was dominating the champion. Langford won the fight by decision, a victory that few predicted beforehand. However, Langford did not receive the lightweight champion title as he was two pounds over the weight limit.
Langford's most memorable fights were his numerous encounters against fellow Black boxers Sam McVey, Battling Jim Johnson, Joe Jeanette and Harry Wills, who all experienced similar barriers in their fighting careers.
He fought Jack Blackburn, trainer of the legendary Joe Louis, six times. The first three fights were draws, the fourth a decision win for Langford, the fifth another draw and the sixth a no contest.
World Welterweight title fight
Although Langford is often credited as the greatest fighter to never challenge for a world title, he fought World Welterweight Champion Barbados Joe Walcott, a black man, on September 5, 1904, at Lake Massabesic Coliseum in Manchester, New Hampshire for his title. Both fighters weighed in at 142 lbs. The fight lasted fifteen rounds and resulted in a draw via decision; thus, Walcott retained his title. The Boston Globe claimed that Langford won a clear victory, as he "brought the champion to one knee" in the third round while he himself "went through the entire fifteen rounds without a perceptible scratch". They argued the draw decision largely resulted from Walcott's role as the primary aggressor in the fight.
World Colored Middleweight Championship
Sam Langford traveled to England in early 1907. It was rumored that Langford was set to fight Gunner Moir, the English heavyweight champion, despite not being in the same weight class. Instead, Langford defeated Tiger Smith by fourth-round knockout to claim the middleweight championship of England in May of 1907. Langford returned to the United States in September of the same year, having, in the words of the Buffalo Evening News, "whipped every man he met in his class."
Langford fought welterweight Young Peter Jackson for the World Colored Middleweight Championship on November 12th, 1907. The match took place at the Pacific Athletic Club in Los Angeles over 20 rounds. Betting odds were 10-to-6 in favor of Jackson, but Langford won the decision at the end of the twentieth round.
Langford fought World Middleweight Champion Stanley Ketchel on April 27, 1910 in a six-round non-title fight. The fight was a no-decision draw, with rumors suggesting a re-match was planned. Ketchel was murdered six months later, and no rematch took place.
World Colored Heavyweight Championship
Sam Langford won the World Colored Heavyweight Championship a record five times between 1910 and 1918. Jack Johnson had reigned as the World Colored Heavyweight Champion from 1903 to 1908, when he relinquished the title after winning the World Heavyweight Championship. Joe Jeanette and Sam McVey fought in Paris in February 1909 to fill the vacant title, with McVey the victor. Jeanette took the title away from McVey two months later.
Subsequently, Langford claimed the title during Jeanette's reign after Johnson refused to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against him. For a year there were two duelling claimants to the world-coloured heavyweight crown, Jeanette, the "official" champ, and Langford, the pretender, the man whom Jack Johnson "ducked". On September 6, 1910, in Boston, Massachusetts, Langford became the undisputed coloured champ by winning a 15-round bout with Jeanette on points. Still, Jack Johnson refused to give him a title shot.
Langford fought Sam McVey at Cirque de Paris on April 1st, 1911. They fought for 20 rounds in total, after which the fight was called a draw. The Times noted that the crowd disapproved of the verdict, largely siding with Langford.
In 1912, Langford was one of the contenders for the World Colored Heavyweight Championship fought at various venues across Australia. Sam McVey his opponent, McVey ranked alongside Jack Johnson, Joe Jeanette, Sam Langford, and Harry Wills as the top black heavyweights of their generation. Prior to his win, Langford stayed at the Nedlands Park Hotel where he:
Failure to secure World Heavyweight Championship title shot
Ironically, the colour bar that had marred the world heavyweight title by blackballing boxers of colour remained in force even under Jack Johnson. Once he was the World's Heavyweight Champion, Johnson did not fight a black opponent for the first five years of his reign. In addition to Langford, he denied matches to black heavyweights Joe Jeanette and to the young Harry Wills (who was Colored Heavyweight Champion during the last year of Johnson's reign as World Heavyweight Champion).
Langford fought Jack Johnson only once, on April 26th, 1906, before Johnson became the first black World Heavyweight Champion. Langford weighed 146 pounds at the time compared to Jack Johnson's 196. Their match took place in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and lasted the full 15 rounds. Langford knocked Johnson down for nine counts in the first round, but Johnson took control of the fight from there and knocked Langford down twice in the sixth round. Langford was bloodied by the thirteenth round, but started to come back by the last two rounds. According to John Footsley, some spectators came away with the opinion that Langford would have won had the match gone to twenty rounds instead of fifteen. Instead, Johnson won the decision. Langford later said that the match proved "a good big man can lick a good little man". Johnson, meanwhile, said of Langford, "I don’t want to fight that little smoke. He's got a chance to win against anyone in the world. I'm the first black [heavyweight] champion and I'm going to be the last."
After winning their first match, Johnson repeatedly refused rematches against Langford, who was considered by some to be the most dangerous challenger for Johnson's crown. Another explanation for this Johnson's refusal is that he knew that a fight between two black fighters would not generate nearly as much revenue as a fight between him and a white man. Battling Jim Johnson, the man Sam fought twelve times, beating Johnson nine times and never losing once, would be the one who got the title shot against Johnson.
The National Sporting Club of London attempted to arrange a re-match between Langford and Johnson as early as 1909, while Langford was still attempting to schedule a title bout with middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel. The National Sporting Club offered to pay for Johnson to travel to Australia to fight Tommy Burns in exchange. Both fighters initially agreed to the fight, and it was scheduled for May 21st, with $4,000 () going to the victor and $2,000 () to the loser. However, after defeating Burns in March, Johnson changed his mind, citing the purse: "Now that I am at the top, I intend to go out hard after the coin." Johnson also claimed that Langford would have no chance to win a fight, citing their previous bout.
Langford still left for London on April 29th, 1909. Instead of fighting Jack Johnson for the world heavyweight championship, Langford fought Ian Hague for the English heavyweight championship for a purse of $9,000 (). Both boxers hoped to challenge Jack Johnson, who set off for England on May 25th, if they won. Langford weighed in at 168 pounds, 12 pounds under Hague's 180; his height and reach were also the lesser of the two's. Regardless, Langford won the match by knocking Hague out with a right to the chin in the fourth of a scheduled twenty rounds. The Buffalo Evening News noted that Langford's speed and tactical knowledge helped him carry the match despite the size difference. When Langford returned to the United States in June of 1909, he once again challenged Johnson: "I am ready to fight Johnson for the championship at any time. In fact I would have met him in England but he would not cross the ocean, fearing he would meet defeat."
In August 1913, as Johnson neared the end of his troubled reign as World Heavyweight Champion, there were rumours that he had agreed to fight Langford in Paris for the title, but it came to naught. Johnson claimed that Langford was unable to raise $30,000 (equivalent to approximately $ in today's funds) for his guarantee.