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Sam Langford | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Portrait of Sam Langford, "The Boston Tar Baby", Canadian boxer and Australian heavyweight champion, photograph 1913 | |
| Born | Samuel Edgar Langford March 4, 1886[2] Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Died | January 12, 1956 (age 69) |
| Other names | Boston Tar Baby Boston Terror Boston Bonecrusher |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | |
| Height | 5 ft 6+1⁄2 in (1.69 m) |
| Reach | 74 in (188 cm) |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 314;[1] with the inclusion of newspaper decisions |
| Wins | 210 |
| Wins by KO | 126 |
| Losses | 43 |
| Draws | 53 |
| No contests | 8 |
Samuel Edgar Langford (March 4, 1886 – January 12, 1956)[3] was a Canadian boxing standout of the early part of the 20th century. Called the "Greatest Fighter Nobody Knows", by ESPN,[4] Langford is considered by many boxing historians to be one of the greatest fighters of all time.[5] Originally from Weymouth Falls, a small community in Nova Scotia, he was known as "the Boston Bonecrusher", "the Boston Terror", and his most famous nickname, "the Boston Tar Baby". Langford stood 5 ft 6+1⁄2 in (1.69 m) and weighed 185 lb (84 kg) 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, Langford was rated No. 2 by The Ring on their list of "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 by 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 to be an honorary world champion. BoxRec ranks him as the 22nd greatest Canadian boxer of all time.[6]
- ^ "BoxRec: Login".
- ^ "Sam Langford (1886-1956) •". January 21, 2007.
- ^ "Sam Langford". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
- ^ Mulvaney, Kieran (February 7, 2007). "The greatest fighter almost nobody knows". ESPN.
- ^ "Sam Langford, the Boston Terror".
- ^ "BoxRec ratings: Canada, pound-for-pound, active and inactive". BoxRec. Retrieved December 26, 2020.