Professional record: 213-43-53
Colored Middleweight Champion
5-time Colored Heavyweight Champion
63 Fights for Colored Titles won nearly 40
Made nearly 40 Colored Title defenses
68 Fights against Champions
Fought 13 Champions beat 11
66 Fights against Hall of Famers won 30
Fought 14 Hall of Famers beat 12
Langford fought from Featherweight and moved up to Heavyweight. Following that, I wanna point out that he beat Hall of Famers in 4 divisions. While moving to up from Featherweight he was beating great fighters in the meantime. Knocking out natural Heavyweights as a former Featherweight, now just think about that. Langford only stood 1.71cm (5'7) and was beating Heavyweights that often weighed 15kg (30lbs) more than him. He has to be one of the finest pound-4-pound punchers in boxing history.
Another thing is the amazing opponents he fought in epic fight series. Fighting Sam Mcvea 15 times, Joe Jeannette 14 times, Harry Wills 17 times, Dave Holly 4 times, Jim Flynn 5 times, Jeff Clarke 10 times, Battling Jim Johnson 12 times. He also fought Barbados Joe Walcott, Joe Gans, Jack Johnson, Stanley Ketchel, Tiger Flowers, Kid Norfolk and Philadelphia Jack O'Brien. All of these guys were amazing fighters either having The World or Colored divisional title.
He often fought multiple times in a month unlike fighters do today. Maybe he would lose to a guy and then beat him a week or 2 later. Imagine what would happen if Langford fought in a more modern era he would smoke away the entire Heavyweight division.
After Langford won the Colored Middleweight Title he challenged Jack Johnson for his Colored Heavyweight Title. Jackson won that fight and he out-weighted Langford since Langford was around 70kg (155lbs) at the time. After Jackson won the World Title in 1908 he avoided Langford. He did not want a piece of this man. Jackson said Langford was the toughest fighter he ever fought. Langford never got a shot at the World Title because of the color line back then.
Back then it was not unusual for fighters to fight for 20-25 rounds or even more. Langford and some other fighters of his time could do that for fun. That just shows what kind of stamina and durability they had back in the day, fighting with 2-4oz gloves.
He was also extremely powerful having over 120 KO's with over 200 wins. Once Harry Wills said That he thought he died after Langford knocked him out. In his 17 fight series with Wills, Langford started losing after 1918-19 because Langford was leaving his prime while Wills was at his peak at the time. Langford was one tough man fighting blind in one after 1916-17 and mostly blind later in his career. In his last bout, it was reported as a round 1 TKO loss for Langford, he was completely blind and 43 years old.
The ESPN called him "The greatest fighter that nobody knows" for a reason, he was avoided for most of his career, for a shot at the World Title he even submitted some of his matches in order to do that. But sadly that never happened. Consider that when talking about great Heavyweights people always mentioned the likes of Jack Johnson but never mentioned other greats of his time like Langford, Mcvea, Jeannette and more.
Final thoughts: In my opinion, Langford is the greatest Heavyweight that ever lived and in my top 3 pound-4-pound list. It is sad that people don't remember this man and don't mention him when talking about great fighters. Especially when you say Jackson might be the greatest Heavyweight and you don't even mention Langford and the legacy he left behind him. Langford should get the respect he deserves for what he has done inside the ring.
1883-1956
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