<p>Heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey called Sam Langford from Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, \u201cThe greatest fighter we\u2019ve ever had.\u201d And champion Jack Johnson stated he \u201che was the toughest little son-of-a-bitch that ever lived.\u201d Celebrated New York boxing writer Hype Igoe said he was \u201cthe greatest fighter, pound for pound, who ever lived,\u201d while New York sports writer Joe Williams said he \u201cwas probably the best the ring ever saw.\u201d Langford was so good that many boxers refused to fight him, so good that he took bouts with bigger men just to get a match, so good that he once fought the greatest boxer of his age, Jack Johnson, who was forty pounds heavier and a good foot taller\u2014and still went the distance. <\/p> <p>Yet, for all the ferocity of his talent, Sam Langford (1883-1956) could not outbox fistic fate. From his first bout in 1902 until his last a quarter century later, he battled boxing\u2019s colour barrier that kept him from being world champion in three different weight classes. Still, he refused to be knocked down and relentlessly pursued a title shot until he was nearly forty. When, in 1923, he approached Jack Kearns, the manager of then heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, for a title bout, the wily Kearns looked over the nearly blind, well-past-his-prime boxer, and shook his head. \u201cWe were looking for someone easier,\u201d he sighed. He was just that good. When Langford could no longer get his title shot, he retired from the ring in 1926 and soon faded from the public mind\u2014until the serious compilers of lists that recognize boxing\u2019s all-time greatest began including his name, and he found himself becoming a legend. <\/p> <p>His official record says he fought 250 bouts, but he remembered fighting more than 500. And he loved to talk about them all, loved the stories that shaped the contours of his life and loved the absolute truth and less-than-certain tales that wove themselves into his boxing legend. Of course, this was as it should have been, because for him, great boxing was as much about the battles\u2019 tales as it was about the battles themselves. This is the story of Sam Langford. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
<p>Heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey called Sam Langford from Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, \u201cThe greatest fighter we\u2019ve ever had.\u201d And champion Jack Johnson stated he \u201che was the toughest little son-of-a-bitch that ever lived.\u201d Celebrated New York boxing writer Hype Igoe said he was \u201cthe greatest fighter, pound for pound, who ever lived,\u201d while New York sports writer Joe Williams said he \u201cwas probably the best the ring ever saw.\u201d Langford was so good that many boxers refused to fight him, so good that he took bouts with bigger men just to get a match, so good that he once fought the greatest boxer of his age, Jack Johnson, who was forty pounds heavier and a good foot taller\u2014and still went the distance. <\/p> <p>Yet, for all the ferocity of his talent, Sam Langford (1883-1956) could not outbox fistic fate. From his first bout in 1902 until his last a quarter century later, he battled boxing\u2019s colour barrier that kept him from being world champion in three different weight classes. Still, he refused to be knocked down and relentlessly pursued a title shot until he was nearly forty. When, in 1923, he approached Jack Kearns, the manager of then heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, for a title bout, the wily Kearns looked over the nearly blind, well-past-his-prime boxer, and shook his head. \u201cWe were looking for someone easier,\u201d he sighed. He was just that good. When Langford could no longer get his title shot, he retired from the ring in 1926 and soon faded from the public mind\u2014until the serious compilers of lists that recognize boxing\u2019s all-time greatest began including his name, and he found himself becoming a legend. <\/p> <p>His official record says he fought 250 bouts, but he remembered fighting more than 500. And he loved to talk about them all, loved the stories that shaped the contours of his life and loved the absolute truth and less-than-certain tales that wove themselves into his boxing legend. Of course, this was as it should have been, because for him, great boxing was as much about the battles\u2019 tales as it was about the battles themselves. This is the story of Sam Langford. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":55846,"template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[10712],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-63125","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","5":"product_language-eng","6":"product_subjects-biography-autobiography-2","7":"product_subjects-sports-biography-autobiography-2","8":"product_reading_range-12722","9":"product_reading_range-12723","10":"product_reading_range-12724","11":"product_interest_range-12746","12":"product_interest_range-12747","13":"product_interest_range-12748","14":"product_grade_range-tenth-grade","15":"product_grade_range-eleventh-grade","16":"product_grade_range-twelfth-grade","17":"product_curriculumsubject-english-curriculum-subjects","18":"product_edi_priority_areas-race-and-ethnicity","19":"biblio_share_tag-biography-autobiography-sports","20":"product_cat-abc","21":"product_shipping_class-abc-test","22":"entry","24":"first","25":"instock","26":"taxable","27":"shipping-taxable","28":"purchasable","29":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n