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Sam Langford
Born: March 4, 1883 Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, Canada
Died: January 12, 1956 (aged 72) Cambridge, Massachusetts
Height: 5’7″
Weight: 139-204 lbs
Division: Lightweight, Welterweight, Middleweight, Light Heavyweight, Heavyweight
Record:
Total fights: 256
Wins: 180
Wins by KO: 128
Losses: 29
Draws: 39
No Contest: –
Biography:
Samuel “Sam” E. Langford, known as the Boston Tar Baby, Boston Terror, and Boston Bonecrusher (March 4, 1883 – January 12, 1956) was a Black Canadian boxing standout of the early part of the 20th century. Called the “Greatest Fighter Nobody Knows”, by ESPN, many boxing historians consider Langford to be one of the greatest fighters of all time. Originally from Weymouth Falls, a small community in Nova Scotia, Canada. 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 color bar and by the refusal of Jack Johnson, the first African-American World HeavyweightChampion, to fight him. Langford was the World Colored Heavyweight Champion, a title vacated, by Johnson, after he won the World Championship, a record five times. Many boxing aficionados consider Langford to be the greatest boxer not to win a world title. BoxRec ranks him as the 3rd greatest heavyweight boxer of all-time, 9th greatest pound-for-pound boxer of all-time and the greatest Canadian boxer of all-time.
In trying to determine when and how Sam went blind one can venture a guess that he suffered from a detached retina which is the most common way for blindness to occur from injury for a fighter. One may recall that Sugar Ray Leonard had surgery for a detached retina in 1982. Unfortunately for Sam the medical science of the early 20th century held little hope for him. According to the Nov. 22, 1935 Digby Weekly Courier, “Langford has been virtually blind since he fought Fred Fulton in 1917.” This is when the first eye injury occured. The June 20, 1917 Boston Globe reported that Sam quit due to injury failing to come out for the seventh round and noted that “When Sam quit his eye was closed tightly.” It was Sam’s left eye that was injured first. This is astonishing, since he would have trouble seeing right hands ever after.
More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Langford
http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/langford.htm
http://coxscorner.tripod.com/langford.html
