THE 100 GREATEST BOXERS OF ALL TIME #8: SAM LANGFORD
<p>December 8, 1903: Joe Gans, the reigning lightweight (135 pounds) champion of the world, the first black man to win that title, and one of the sport’s greatest practitioners to that time, was shocked. Somehow, an unknown teen had just dominated him in a fifteen-round match in Boston, having him on the verge of a knockout loss on multiple occasions. “Boy, you’re going to be a great fighter someday,” Gans told seventeen-year-old Sam Langford after the fight. Gans got the “someday” part wrong. Langford was already great.</p>
<p>Sam Langford started his career as a lightweight, and yet the legendary heavyweight champions Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey refused to put their belts on the line against this phenomenally talented puncher. The first black heavyweight champion, Johnson found it easier and more profitable to take on mostly white challengers, while Jack Dempsey, only after retiring, openly admitted that Langford was the only man he was ever afraid to face in the ring. Locked out of deserved championship matches at lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight, Langford is regarded by many as the single best fighter to never get a shot at a championship.</p>
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