Guess the Avatar!

[Rastak]

Ok, I won't be keeping this avatar for too long but who recognizes this guy?


Hint number one, Heaveyweight fighter.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Jack Johnson?

[red]

Jack Johnson?

yup

[Joemailman]

I was gonna guess Samkon Gado. http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/sp/v/nfl/players_l/20070814/7532.jpg

[oregonpackfan]

Jack Johnson?

There was a very good movie about him where James Earl Jones portrayed Johnson. Someone help me remember the title of the movie--Patler, Vince, KY--what was that movie?

[Maxie the Taxi]

Jack Johnson?

There was a very good movie about him where James Earl Jones portrayed Johnson. Someone help me remember the title of the movie--Patler, Vince, KY--what was that movie?

The Great White Hope

[Rastak]

Jack Johnson?


Very good guess Harv, same era but wrong guy. Woody and Guiness should get it right away. That's hint number two.


Johnson ducked him for years. Jack Johnson was an outstanding fighter but this guy might have been his better.

[Maxie the Taxi]

That's Sam Langford. I saw him fight Johnson in '06.

[Rastak]

That's Sam Langford. I saw him fight Johnson in '06.


A winner!

Damn, you are old.

One of the best heavyweights of all time never to have won a title.

[Zool]

That's Sam Langford. I saw him fight Johnson in '06.

Wouldn't that be ought-6?

[Maxie the Taxi]

Actually, I wasn't really at the fight. I was home with an ailing prostate. :)


Boston Post - April 27, 1906 - Chelsea, Mass.

CAMBRIDGE LAD WENT FULL DISTANCE BUT WAS BADLY BEATEN

In one of the most one-sided bouts ever seen in Chelsea, Jack Johnson of California won the decision over Sam Langford of Cambridge after 15 rounds at the Lincoln Athletic Club last night.

In the sixth round Johnson put Langford to the mat for the count twice, the first time with a right uppercut to the chin. Both times Langford struggled to his feet at the count of nine and stalled to the end of the round.

After the sixth it ceased to be a contest, Langford nearly stalling it out, clinching and holding on at every opportunity. The bout settled down to a question of how long Langford could stay. He let Johnson do all the forcing, countering with a straight left occasionally, then closing in and hanging on.

The feature of the bout was the extraordinary defensive work of Langford and his remarkable ability to take punishment. It was a wonder that he could stand the beating that Johnson handed him.

He was game to the core, and won the cheers of the crowd by his courage and cleverness. But when that is said, nothing more in praise of the bout could be added.

It was too one-sided to be interesting. Johnson out-weighed Langford by fully 30 lbs., and was a head taller, with six inches more reach.

Johnson didn’t try very hard. His superiority was evident from the outset and he didn’t have to. In the first three rounds Langford, by his cleverness, held his own.

Johnson had a slight advantage in the first; the second was even, and in the third, fourth and fifth Johnson increased his lead slightly.

Then came the sixth and it did not seem possible that Langford could last the round out. But he did, and after it was only a question of how much more punishment he could stand.

There were times when Johnson looked tired, but it was from his own exertions.

He left the ring without a mark, while Langford’s face showed that he had been through the wars. Maffitt Flaherty refereed.

http://www.boxinginsider.com/history/when-langford-whipped-jack-johnson/

[Rastak]

Actually, I wasn't really at the fight. I was home with an ailing prostate. :)


Boston Post - April 27, 1906 - Chelsea, Mass.

CAMBRIDGE LAD WENT FULL DISTANCE BUT WAS BADLY BEATEN

In one of the most one-sided bouts ever seen in Chelsea, Jack Johnson of California won the decision over Sam Langford of Cambridge after 15 rounds at the Lincoln Athletic Club last night.

In the sixth round Johnson put Langford to the mat for the count twice, the first time with a right uppercut to the chin. Both times Langford struggled to his feet at the count of nine and stalled to the end of the round.

After the sixth it ceased to be a contest, Langford nearly stalling it out, clinching and holding on at every opportunity. The bout settled down to a question of how long Langford could stay. He let Johnson do all the forcing, countering with a straight left occasionally, then closing in and hanging on.

The feature of the bout was the extraordinary defensive work of Langford and his remarkable ability to take punishment. It was a wonder that he could stand the beating that Johnson handed him.

He was game to the core, and won the cheers of the crowd by his courage and cleverness. But when that is said, nothing more in praise of the bout could be added.

It was too one-sided to be interesting. Johnson out-weighed Langford by fully 30 lbs., and was a head taller, with six inches more reach.

Johnson didn’t try very hard. His superiority was evident from the outset and he didn’t have to. In the first three rounds Langford, by his cleverness, held his own.

Johnson had a slight advantage in the first; the second was even, and in the third, fourth and fifth Johnson increased his lead slightly.

Then came the sixth and it did not seem possible that Langford could last the round out. But he did, and after it was only a question of how much more punishment he could stand.

There were times when Johnson looked tired, but it was from his own exertions.

He left the ring without a mark, while Langford’s face showed that he had been through the wars. Maffitt Flaherty refereed.

http://www.boxinginsider.com/history/when-langford-whipped-jack-johnson/


And despite his win, he wanted no part of the guy ever again!


Jack Johnson is a top 5 guy of all time in the HW division. Sammy Langford is top ten and I'm not shocked Johnson wanted nothing to do with him after their first fight.


Keep in mind, Johnson was 100x better than all the top ten heavyweights of his time. It wasn't even close. No wonder he ducked a guy who might actually have a shot at winning.

Johnson losing in Cuba was a fix. In a sense, Langford never getting a title shot was too.

[Rastak]

Okay, to end the Sammy Langford discussion for all time:


The old man wasn't expecting a visitor.


He was sitting on the edge of his bed, in a small room in Harlem, listening to the radio. The room was dark; there was no reason for it not to be, because the old man was blind. He stood up when the visitor entered, and fumbled for a string attached to a bulb in the ceiling.


"You come to see me?" he asked, somewhat incredulously.


His visitor replied that yes, he had come to see him. He was, he said, a newspaper reporter; he wanted to write a story about him.


"What you want to write about old Sam for?" replied the man. "He ain't no good anymore. You ever see me fight?"



Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

Despite a heavyweight boxing career that lasted until the age of 41, Sam Langford never took the world title.
It had been nearly 18 years since Sam Langford had last fought, in August 1926, and by then, he was well past his prime, probably aged 41, and already almost completely blind. Over a 24-year span, he had fought some of the very best of his era, from lightweight to heavyweight, winning far more often than he lost. Although his exact record is a matter of some confusion, he fought at least 293 times, won at least 167 against 38 defeats and a combined 85 draws and no decisions, and scored at least 117 knockouts, the last of which ranks him in the top 10 of all time. By the time Al Laney of the New York Herald Tribune tracked him down that January day in 1944, he already had been largely forgotten; but at his peak, Sam Langford was one of the very best fighters in the world, and to this day is considered among the greatest of all time.

"I think Langford is probably one of the top five greatest fighters we've ever had on the planet," said Kevin Smith, author of "The Sundowners: The History of the Black Prizefighter 1870-1930."


Boxing historian Bert Sugar is marginally less effusive; in his book, "Boxing's 100 Greatest Fighters," Sugar ranks Langford No. 16. But, he wrote, "he is the highest non-champion."


And therein lies perhaps the principal reason Langford's name does not resonate in the same way as contemporaries such as Stanley Ketchel, Jack Johnson or Jack Dempsey. For all his accomplishments, Langford was never granted a world title shot at any of the weights in which he fought, because he was both a very good fighter, and a black one.


"He was the most feared fighter of the first two decades of the 20th century," said boxing historian and author Mike Silver. "He was just about a complete fighter. He was very short [around 5-foot-7], but he had unusually long arms. Also, he was way ahead of his time as a boxer. He could fight on the inside, he could fight on the outside. If he had to fight on the inside, he knew how to get inside. He was a long-distance, middle-distance and short-distance fighter. He could do it all. He was also a devastating puncher, which was amazing because he carried his punch in every weight division he moved to."


Langford is believed to have been born in Weymouth, Nova Scotia, on March 4, 1885. His first recorded professional fight was a fifth-round knockout of Jack McVicker on April 11, 1902. He spent the bulk of his boxing career living and fighting in and around Boston, earning him such nicknames as "The Boston Terror," or the more famous if entirely less savory "Boston Tar Baby."


Almost from the beginning of his career, he fought tough, skilled opponents, including world champions with far more ring experience.


"The guys he was fighting even in his first year, they were some pretty hard-core guys," Smith said. "When I think about it, no one was looking out for his interests, or they wouldn't have thrown him in with these guys."


In 1903, still a lightweight, and in just his 26th recorded professional contest, he fought and beat world champion Joe Gans over 15 rounds in a nontitle bout.


"Now, Gans had fought the night before, then caught the train up from Philadelphia and basically was drinking and playing poker all night," Smith said. "But still, you put a first-year kid against a Bernard Hopkins or a James Toney today, and they're getting ruined, I don't care how long Toney's been out the night before."


From there, Langford progressively moved up in weight, continuing to take on the toughest possible opponents.


"He was 135 starting out, and he just got bigger and thicker," Smith said. "He was one of those guys you never wanted to fight because he had a big, thick neck and wherever you hit him, you just couldn't hurt him.

Denied an opportunity to fight for a world title, Sam Langford had to fight the same opponents over and over again, like other black boxers who were denied chances because of the color barrier.
"People always talk about his arms being so long, but reach is a deceptive measurement because it includes the breadth of your shoulders. And if you look at Langford from the back, his shoulders were just tremendously broad. He was a freak of nature, there's no doubt. He was all torso and arms, and a big, thick neck. He was kind of like [Mike] Tyson with longer arms and broader shoulders, if you can believe that, and a little bit shorter."

In 1904, Langford fought to a draw in a nontitle bout with world welterweight champion Joe Walcott. By 1906, Langford was across the ring from future heavyweight champion Jack Johnson. Johnson knocked Langford down in the sixth and won a 15-round decision.


"At that time, Langford was about 155 pounds, and Johnson was about 190, 195," Smith said. "It was a man versus a boy. Langford was still pretty young. He'd only had a couple of fights against other heavyweights. But I think even at that time that people saw that Langford was a special fighter."


Over the years, the myth grew that Langford had given Johnson all kinds of trouble, and that his defeat had been controversial. The story was stoked by Langford's manager in an attempt to drum up demands for a rematch after Johnson had become the first black man to win the heavyweight championship. But Langford had grown bigger (although he was always small for a heavyweight, even by the standards of the time), more skilled and more experienced in the interim, and Johnson demurred. Langford never did get his shot at a world title.


"Of all things, Jack Johnson drew the color line," Silver said. "But that wasn't so much that he thought he couldn't beat [other black boxers], it was really the economics of the sport. He might have made money fighting Langford, maybe, but if Langford had a shot, why take the risk? And the promoters aren't going to go for it, because they just replace one black champion with another black champion."


Denied an opportunity to fight for a world title, Langford was obliged repeatedly to fight the same opponents over and over again -- mostly fellow outstanding black boxers who, like Langford, were denied title shots by the color barrier. He fought Joe Jeannette 13 times, Sam McVey 13 times and Harry Wills 18 times. When he fought white opponents, he was frequently instructed to carry them, which he knew he had to do if he wanted to keep getting fights.


In June 1917, he quit during a fight against Fred Fulton, failing to come out for the seventh round because of injury. The Boston Globe reported that "when Sam quit, his eye was closed tightly." It was likely during this fight that Langford suffered the damage that rendered him blind in his left eye.


And yet, notwithstanding this most debilitating of handicaps, Langford fought on. In 1922, at age 37, he scored a second-round knockout against future middleweight champion Tiger Flowers, despite suffering an injury that all but blinded him in his remaining good eye.


"How he used to fight, he used to feel his opponent, he used to go in close -- and he was such a brilliant fighter, he could fight inside for the entire fight -- and as soon as he was on the inside, he would instinctively know from his years of experience, he could tell where his opponent's arms were and so forth and he could do OK," Silver said.


Langford later recalled that, "I went down to Mexico in 1922 [in fact, 1923] with this here left eye completely gone and the right eye just seeing shadows. It was a cataract. They matched me up with Kid Savage for the title. I was bluffing through that I could see but I gave myself away. They bet awful heavy on the kid when the word got round. I just felt my way around and then, wham, I got home. He forgot to duck and I was the heavyweight champion of Mexico."


Eventually, Langford could no longer disguise his ailment, and after he walked to the wrong corner in a fight in 1926, his license was revoked and he retired.


And then, Silver said, "crazy as it sounds, one of the greatest fighters who ever lived was basically forgotten. He just disappeared. Nobody knew where he lived."


When Laney found him, Langford was penniless, hungry and alone. After Laney's newspaper column appeared, a fund was set up and a hat regularly passed around on Langford's behalf at local fights. As a result, the former fighter lived relatively comfortably for the rest of his days, until he passed away Jan. 12, 1956 -- at the probable age of 70.


More than 50 years later, Langford still remains virtually unknown outside of fight circles.


"I mention his name, and I see nothing but glazed eyes," said Sugar. "Nothing. Zero on the Richter scale. And not only that, you can't find his record in The Ring Record Book because he wasn't a champion. So, not only who was he, but how can I find out about him?


"The funny thing about Langford is that he's half-blind, and he comes to Doc Kearns [manager of heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey] in the '20s -- and remember, Sam Langford has been fighting since the aughts -- and he wants to fight Dempsey. And Doc Kearns says, 'Sam, we were looking for somebody easier.'


"He was half-blind, he was a goddamned middleweight, and he was that good."

[Maxie the Taxi]

Okay, to end the Sammy Langford discussion for all time:


The old man wasn't expecting a visitor.


He was sitting on the edge of his bed, in a small room in Harlem, listening to the radio. The room was dark; there was no reason for it not to be, because the old man was blind. He stood up when the visitor entered, and fumbled for a string attached to a bulb in the ceiling.


"You come to see me?" he asked, somewhat incredulously.


His visitor replied that yes, he had come to see him. He was, he said, a newspaper reporter; he wanted to write a story about him.


"What you want to write about old Sam for?" replied the man. "He ain't no good anymore. You ever see me fight?"



Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

Despite a heavyweight boxing career that lasted until the age of 41, Sam Langford never took the world title.
It had been nearly 18 years since Sam Langford had last fought, in August 1926, and by then, he was well past his prime, probably aged 41, and already almost completely blind. Over a 24-year span, he had fought some of the very best of his era, from lightweight to heavyweight, winning far more often than he lost. Although his exact record is a matter of some confusion, he fought at least 293 times, won at least 167 against 38 defeats and a combined 85 draws and no decisions, and scored at least 117 knockouts, the last of which ranks him in the top 10 of all time. By the time Al Laney of the New York Herald Tribune tracked him down that January day in 1944, he already had been largely forgotten; but at his peak, Sam Langford was one of the very best fighters in the world, and to this day is considered among the greatest of all time.

"I think Langford is probably one of the top five greatest fighters we've ever had on the planet," said Kevin Smith, author of "The Sundowners: The History of the Black Prizefighter 1870-1930."


Boxing historian Bert Sugar is marginally less effusive; in his book, "Boxing's 100 Greatest Fighters," Sugar ranks Langford No. 16. But, he wrote, "he is the highest non-champion."


And therein lies perhaps the principal reason Langford's name does not resonate in the same way as contemporaries such as Stanley Ketchel, Jack Johnson or Jack Dempsey. For all his accomplishments, Langford was never granted a world title shot at any of the weights in which he fought, because he was both a very good fighter, and a black one.


"He was the most feared fighter of the first two decades of the 20th century," said boxing historian and author Mike Silver. "He was just about a complete fighter. He was very short [around 5-foot-7], but he had unusually long arms. Also, he was way ahead of his time as a boxer. He could fight on the inside, he could fight on the outside. If he had to fight on the inside, he knew how to get inside. He was a long-distance, middle-distance and short-distance fighter. He could do it all. He was also a devastating puncher, which was amazing because he carried his punch in every weight division he moved to."


Langford is believed to have been born in Weymouth, Nova Scotia, on March 4, 1885. His first recorded professional fight was a fifth-round knockout of Jack McVicker on April 11, 1902. He spent the bulk of his boxing career living and fighting in and around Boston, earning him such nicknames as "The Boston Terror," or the more famous if entirely less savory "Boston Tar Baby."


Almost from the beginning of his career, he fought tough, skilled opponents, including world champions with far more ring experience.


"The guys he was fighting even in his first year, they were some pretty hard-core guys," Smith said. "When I think about it, no one was looking out for his interests, or they wouldn't have thrown him in with these guys."


In 1903, still a lightweight, and in just his 26th recorded professional contest, he fought and beat world champion Joe Gans over 15 rounds in a nontitle bout.


"Now, Gans had fought the night before, then caught the train up from Philadelphia and basically was drinking and playing poker all night," Smith said. "But still, you put a first-year kid against a Bernard Hopkins or a James Toney today, and they're getting ruined, I don't care how long Toney's been out the night before."


From there, Langford progressively moved up in weight, continuing to take on the toughest possible opponents.


"He was 135 starting out, and he just got bigger and thicker," Smith said. "He was one of those guys you never wanted to fight because he had a big, thick neck and wherever you hit him, you just couldn't hurt him.

Denied an opportunity to fight for a world title, Sam Langford had to fight the same opponents over and over again, like other black boxers who were denied chances because of the color barrier.
"People always talk about his arms being so long, but reach is a deceptive measurement because it includes the breadth of your shoulders. And if you look at Langford from the back, his shoulders were just tremendously broad. He was a freak of nature, there's no doubt. He was all torso and arms, and a big, thick neck. He was kind of like [Mike] Tyson with longer arms and broader shoulders, if you can believe that, and a little bit shorter."

In 1904, Langford fought to a draw in a nontitle bout with world welterweight champion Joe Walcott. By 1906, Langford was across the ring from future heavyweight champion Jack Johnson. Johnson knocked Langford down in the sixth and won a 15-round decision.


"At that time, Langford was about 155 pounds, and Johnson was about 190, 195," Smith said. "It was a man versus a boy. Langford was still pretty young. He'd only had a couple of fights against other heavyweights. But I think even at that time that people saw that Langford was a special fighter."


Over the years, the myth grew that Langford had given Johnson all kinds of trouble, and that his defeat had been controversial. The story was stoked by Langford's manager in an attempt to drum up demands for a rematch after Johnson had become the first black man to win the heavyweight championship. But Langford had grown bigger (although he was always small for a heavyweight, even by the standards of the time), more skilled and more experienced in the interim, and Johnson demurred. Langford never did get his shot at a world title.


"Of all things, Jack Johnson drew the color line," Silver said. "But that wasn't so much that he thought he couldn't beat [other black boxers], it was really the economics of the sport. He might have made money fighting Langford, maybe, but if Langford had a shot, why take the risk? And the promoters aren't going to go for it, because they just replace one black champion with another black champion."


Denied an opportunity to fight for a world title, Langford was obliged repeatedly to fight the same opponents over and over again -- mostly fellow outstanding black boxers who, like Langford, were denied title shots by the color barrier. He fought Joe Jeannette 13 times, Sam McVey 13 times and Harry Wills 18 times. When he fought white opponents, he was frequently instructed to carry them, which he knew he had to do if he wanted to keep getting fights.


In June 1917, he quit during a fight against Fred Fulton, failing to come out for the seventh round because of injury. The Boston Globe reported that "when Sam quit, his eye was closed tightly." It was likely during this fight that Langford suffered the damage that rendered him blind in his left eye.


And yet, notwithstanding this most debilitating of handicaps, Langford fought on. In 1922, at age 37, he scored a second-round knockout against future middleweight champion Tiger Flowers, despite suffering an injury that all but blinded him in his remaining good eye.


"How he used to fight, he used to feel his opponent, he used to go in close -- and he was such a brilliant fighter, he could fight inside for the entire fight -- and as soon as he was on the inside, he would instinctively know from his years of experience, he could tell where his opponent's arms were and so forth and he could do OK," Silver said.


Langford later recalled that, "I went down to Mexico in 1922 [in fact, 1923] with this here left eye completely gone and the right eye just seeing shadows. It was a cataract. They matched me up with Kid Savage for the title. I was bluffing through that I could see but I gave myself away. They bet awful heavy on the kid when the word got round. I just felt my way around and then, wham, I got home. He forgot to duck and I was the heavyweight champion of Mexico."


Eventually, Langford could no longer disguise his ailment, and after he walked to the wrong corner in a fight in 1926, his license was revoked and he retired.


And then, Silver said, "crazy as it sounds, one of the greatest fighters who ever lived was basically forgotten. He just disappeared. Nobody knew where he lived."


When Laney found him, Langford was penniless, hungry and alone. After Laney's newspaper column appeared, a fund was set up and a hat regularly passed around on Langford's behalf at local fights. As a result, the former fighter lived relatively comfortably for the rest of his days, until he passed away Jan. 12, 1956 -- at the probable age of 70.


More than 50 years later, Langford still remains virtually unknown outside of fight circles.


"I mention his name, and I see nothing but glazed eyes," said Sugar. "Nothing. Zero on the Richter scale. And not only that, you can't find his record in The Ring Record Book because he wasn't a champion. So, not only who was he, but how can I find out about him?


"The funny thing about Langford is that he's half-blind, and he comes to Doc Kearns [manager of heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey] in the '20s -- and remember, Sam Langford has been fighting since the aughts -- and he wants to fight Dempsey. And Doc Kearns says, 'Sam, we were looking for somebody easier.'


"He was half-blind, he was a goddamned middleweight, and he was that good."



Check it out, Zool. It's nineteen "aught" six. :)

[Kiwon]

Ok, I won't be keeping this avatar for too long but who recognizes this guy?


Hint number one, Heaveyweight fighter.

Cool tag, Rastak. Those old heavyweights that fought 47 round matches bare-fisted were TOUGH.

Jack Dempsey....still my favorite heavyweight.

[Maxie the Taxi]

This is great stuff, Rastak. I love reading about old time athletes. It does make you speculate about how they'd do in the modern era. What they didn't have in physical tools, they made up in grit.

Have you ever seen this below. It's a fictional account of a 1911 fight between Johnson and Langford:


JACK JOHNSON VS SAM LANGFORD

World’s Heavyweight Championship

October 11, 1911

In the decade following the onset of the 20th Century pugilism, now conducted under the auspices of the Marquis of Queensbury rules, had begun to develop lines of improvement that witnessed the transition from the bare knuckle era of John L. Sullivan, Jake Kilrain and Peter Jackson to the polished boxer puncher style of Champion James J. Corbett. Succeeding Titleholders such as Bob Fitzsimmons, James J. Jeffries and Tommy Burns were more ferocity than refinement yet the era had arrived where title contests would occasionally go the limit and the time when championships would exchange hands on points was fast drawing near.

The emergence of great black heavyweights during the early years of the new century had served as a looming challenge to continued white domination of the World’s Heavyweight Championship. Certainly the caliber of black championship hopefuls was that of title quality and the emergence of Jackson, Sam McVey, Jack Johnson, Sam Langford and Joe Jeanette posed a threat that the white power structure in boxing could not permanently avoid.

By 1906 Tommy Burns had lifted the Heavyweight Championship from Marvin Hart, whose dubious claim to the title was based on an elimination contest with Jack Root organized by the retired Boilermaker, James J. Jeffries. Burns was a tiny dynamo who could wallop with either hand and for over two years solidified his championship claim with 11 title defenses which included several knockouts over Bill Squires and triumphs over Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, Gunner Moir, Jewey Smith and Jem Roach.

In 1908 Burns was close to crossing the color line when a match with Sam McVey was negotiated yet ultimately fell through. However, a shadow loomed over Burns in the form of Jack Johnson, the most formidable of the black title aspirants. Johnson, articulate and determined, chased Burns around the globe, hounding him for a championship bout.

Finally, he could be denied no longer and on December 25, 1909 Burns and Johnson met in Ruscutters Bay, Australia and Jack administered a horrific thrashing to Burns. Burns was battered for 13 rounds, knocked down twice and was brutally overmatched. Finally the police intervened and the color line had been crossed.

Johnson was a fighter for the ages. A powerful hitter when provoked his unpenetrable defense, which made him virtually untouchable, enabled Jack to tower over the heavyweight class. Johnson defeated perennial contender Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, Tony Ross, Al Kaufman, knocked Stanley Ketchell unconscious after been dropped by the power punching Middleweight Champion and brushed aside the great Jeffries comeback attempt in 15 brutal, one-sided rounds. However, Johnson was reluctant to defend his championship against the elite black contenders although he had defeated Jeannette (whom he met numerous times), Langford and McVey prior to his stoppage of Burns.

Langford, a short, fast boxer with power in both fists and a strong chin posed the greatest threat to Johnson. Although Jack had defeated him handily in 1906 Lil Artha’ showed great reluctance to risk his title against Langford. Sam was persistent, following Johnson around the country much as Jack had Burns.

However, the Champion tantalized Langford, alluding often to a possible title shot for Sam yet never bringing the match to contract. Another factor impeding such a bout was the lack of public acceptance for a Heavyweight Championship Contest between two black men. The cry was on far and near for a "White Hope" to dethrone Johnson and the prospect of the Heavyweight Crown remaining in Negro hands no matter who the winner made such a match unpalatable for most of the American sporting public.

WHAT IF?

What if Johnson, ever in search of a payday and having cut a swath through the ranks of Caucasian Heavyweights, decided that, having whipped Sam once and put him on the canvas to boot, that risking the title against Langford was an acceptable risk worth taking. The 20 round bout was set for Paris, France on October 11, l911.

The oddsmakers were quick to install Jack as a 9 to 6 favorite against Langford and Jack entered the ring looking in championship form. Flashing his famous smile he shouted over at Sam. "Mista Sam, you know you ain’t seein the 20th round now". Langford, serious and focused, ignores the Champion’s needle. Referee Huey Driscoll brought the combatants together for final instructions and Sam ignored the titleholder’s outstretched hand just prior to the opening bell.

Langford’s early strategy was centered upon using his hand and foot speed to befuddle Johnson and thwart his stellar defense. Langford missed with two fast lefts and banged a solid right off of the top of Johnson’s skull. Jack fought patiently, countering with right leads over Langford’s thrusts and managing to keep his challenger at arms length. Langford was excited and determined to land with authority on Jack.

Sam was short with a right hook and came right back with a hard left hook to the solar plexus. Jack jabbed hard at Sam, then scored with a right lead to the neck followed by a jolting left lead to the point of Langford’s chin. Sam returned to his corner realizing that the first round was a carbon copy of their previous contest, dominated by Jack.

Rounds two through four saw Jack continuing to frustrate Langford, outthinking the challenger and maintaining an iron defense against Sam’s rapider like combinations that too often sailed wide of the mark. Late in round three Langford feinted beautifully and jolted Jack with a smashing right to the chin. The champion held, then broke and retreated to clear his senses. With that exception, the first four rounds clearly belonged to the titleholder.

Rounds five and six told a different tale. Langford’s speed began to pay dividends as his solid jabs began to find the mark, connecting frequently with Johnson’s face. Although Jack still blocked a majority of these blows, it was apparent that Sam had discovered a mechanism to bother Jack. Johnson was content to smirk at Sam and taunt him through raise gloves. "You don’t belong in the same ring with me, Sam. You ought to know charity when you see it., Ol’ Jack is jes helpin you out.".

Early in round seven Johnson began to feint. Doing little else, his head fakes and defensive maneuvers began to anger Sam. "I’m whippin you Jack. You gonna be sorry you made me wait!". Langford landed a wide, glancing right lead off of Jack’s head, banged a short right to the body and hammered Jack about the shoulders and head with a series of blinding punches. With thirty seconds remaining in the round Johnson delivered a shoulder fake and Sam was wide open.

A Johnson right uppercut, delivered with power and telling accuracy, crashed under Sam’s chin and sent the challenger tumbling to the canvas. Rage in his eyes, Langford pulled himself to one knee and took the count of nine. Jack immediately delivered a punishing right to the body and crossed up Sam with a left uppercut that dropped Langford to one knee at the bell. Bounding to his feet, Sam wobbled to his stool, his eyes glazed. He had been hurt.

Johnson’s attack seemed to remind Sam that he was in with a foeman very worthy of his steel. Now cautious, Sam used round eight to recuperate as he reorganized his battle plan. Johnson, never overly aggressive, was confident he could land the big punch when circumstances required. Jabbing with increased frequency, Jack held Langford off during rounds nine and ten, parrying Sam’s solid right leads and bullish attempts at hurt Johnson to the body.

Early in round eleven Sam trapped Jack against the ropes. Confident, Johnson bobbed his massive frame and picked off two hard Langford right leads. Sam stepped smartly to his left, permitting Johnson an opening to escape to ring center. Taking the bait Johnson slid outward only to be staggered by a classic right cross that Sam buried into his jaw. Johnson stumbled into ring center, pursued by Langford with missed with two long rights, scoring with a left hook to the head and smashing three right leads into Johnson’s stomach.

Jack feinted, offered a right lead and attempted to surprise Sam with "Iron Mike", the killer right uppercut. Sam sidestepped the blow and countered with a perfect left hook to Johnson’s jaw. Down went Jack, flat on his back and he was badly dazed. Grasping for the lower rope his fell forward onto his face before forcing himself to his feet as the referee’s count tolled nine. Sam had a minute left to finish the job yet, seeing his first true opportunity in two bouts to stop Johnson, his eagerness to deliver the finis’ denied him a chance for the stoppage. Firing long right leads and bulling himself into Jack, trying to get inside, Sam found himself stymied by Johnson’s defense. Jack was hurt yet he knew how to survive. Tying Sam into knots the champion lasted the round.

Round 12, 13 and 14 saw the titleholder reduce the pace of the contest to a near standstill. Jack was no stranger to the canvas and having come within an eyelash of surrendering the championship in round 11 resurrected the Johnson’s tendency to box conservatively unless threatened. He snaked long jabs into Sam’s face and repeatedly tangled up his challenger in his long arms, forcing numerous time consuming clinches. By the end of round 14 the slow handclap had begun and Langford, his left eye badly swollen and claret dripped from his mouth, had begun to tire.

Early in round 15 Jack snarled at Langford. "Come on and take my title. It’s here for ya. Come on in and lets fight. Haven’t shown me a thing today". Langford, well schooled in how to prevail in a long contest and familiar with Johnson’s tantalizing, refused to take the bait. Yet Jack was clearly in control. Having absorbed Sam’s best shot four rounds earlier the Champion was content to deliver hard right hand leaders over Langford’s rushes and spear his opponent with powerful jabs. Jack aimed directly at Sam’s injured eye, landing several punishing combinations late in the round as Langford, tiring rapidly, smothered Jack in a clinch at the bell.

Johnson controlled rounds 16 and 17 by working exclusively on Langford’s body. Jack crashed three hard right crosses to Langford’s midsection early in the eighteenth, forcing Sam’s weary guard down just in time for a right hand bomb from Jack that decked Langford for the third time in the contest. Sam took the count of nine, barely lifting his knee off of the canvas before the fatal ten was tolled. Langford threw himself at Jack, winging wild right leads that bounced off of Jack’s impenetrable arms. With seconds remaining in the round Langford found Jack’s chin with a bludgeoning right cross, his best blow in six rounds. Jack merely laughed it as the bell concluded the round.

The Champion tried to take the 18th round off yet found his nemesis realizing that his one and only championship shot was on the threshold of failure. Bleeding, swollen and grunting Langford pinned Jack against the ropes and pounded the titleholder with a seemingly never ending volley of terrific right and left hand smashes to the body. Initially Jack dismissed the attack, confident he could feint his way out of the corner and into ring center. However, Sam was not buying it.

Pushing his tormentor against the ring apron Langford threw haymaker after haymaker and many of the blows exploded on Johnson’s chin and face. Eighteen rounds of combat had begun to dull Jack’s defense and for the first time in the bout a large mouse appeared over Jack’s left eye.

Johnson was visibly weary as the two combatants began the 19th round. Jack again tried to rest yet the rejuvenated Langford would have none of it, battering his way past Jack’s guard and again punishing the exhausted Champion brutally about the body. Midway through the round Sam landed a crushing straight right hand to the heart and Jack staggered into the ropes. Johnson grabbed the shorter Langford around the head and forced a desperate clinch. Jabbing hard, Jack would have no more of the challenger’s attack as he kept Sam at the end of his long arms for the final minute of the round.

The Champion extended his right glove at the beginning of the final round. "You’se kin fight, Sam. Mebbe I was wrong" smirked Jack as the two tapped gloves. Langford missed a wild right lead the caused him to lose balance and trip over his own feet, landing on the canvas. Johnson worked a stiff jab into Langford’s face over the first half of the round. Langford was short with a left and banged a right off of Johnson’s swollen face. Jack blocked a Langford right, countered with a stiff left to the nose and a terrific right lead to the body that caused Langford to gasp.

Both fighters were at the point of exhaustion as the contest entered its final minute. Jack blocked a Langford right and pulled his challenger into a lengthy clinch. Langford missed a hard right, then landed two light lefts to the ribcage. Jack jabbed Sam hard twice and took a solid Langford left hook to the jaw as the bell signaled the conclusion of the bout.

Sam extended his glove to Jack as the referee separated the pair. "Thanks for the chance," he grunted as he took his robe and turned towards his corner. Shortly Referee Driscoll held Jack’s hand high in the air. The newspaperman agreed. He had retained his championship in an epic contest against a foeman who refused to go as quietly as he had five years earlier.

By Donald Colgan
Published: 11/25/2000

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/11-25-2000-1567.asp

[Rastak]

Thanks Maxi, that was a good read.

Johnson completely dominated the sport, and was jailed and threatened into eventually throwing a fight to give back the title to a person whose color matched what the people wanted.

Sam langford never got his shot and that fictional account may very well have been what would have happened. I wish we could have known for sure with a real fight. That first bout was a 195 pound man versus a 155 pound man. In 1910, what would have happened?

[Iron Mike]

Jack Johnson?

No, THIS is Jack Johnson:

http://images.askmen.com/galleries/celeb-profiles-men/jack-johnson/pictures/jack-johnson-picture-2.jpg

[Harlan Huckleby]

Jack Johnson was famous for his 'tude. He drove a big car well-stocked with white women, did a lot of stylin and profilin. you can imagine how popular he was with the good ole boys.

[Rastak]

Jack Johnson was famous for his 'tude. He drove a big car well-stocked with white women, did a lot of stylin and profilin. you can imagine how popular he was with the good ole boys.


That is true.

He admited it was his way of saying "fuck you" to the racist world he was living in.

[Scott Campbell]

Jack Johnson?


Very good guess Harv, same era but wrong guy. Woody and Guiness should get it right away. That's hint number two.


Jon Ryan?

[Rastak]

Ok, I won't be keeping this avatar for too long but who recognizes this guy?


Hint number one, Heaveyweight fighter.

Cool tag, Rastak. Those old heavyweights that fought 47 round matches bare-fisted were TOUGH.

Jack Dempsey....still my favorite heavyweight.

For the record, Sammy wasn't fighting bare fisted. They certainly didn't have 16 oz gloves ! Jack Dempsey was another really small guy who won the heavyweight title. I used to go to local screenings (before internet access to videos like this) and I saw Dempsey - Tunney. Amazing fight. Jack Dempsey was tough as nails.