Mentioned this on a thread the other day that it would be nice if posters who enjoyed reading about the sport could post reviews of books they have read be they positive or negative and hopefully we will be able to build up a decent library of reviews we can use to inform future purchases. As someone who buys a lot of books I will offer a couple to get the ball rolling and hopefully a few others can follow suit, here’s hoping it catches on.
Sam Langford – Boxing’s greatest uncrowned champion – Clay Moyle
Before reading Moyle’s book I’ll be honest my knowledge of Langford was limited. Often saw his name and achievements spoken of with hushed reverence on various websites but probably always harboured the suspicion he was one of those names people throw out to look cool and knowledgeable, like Harry Greb who we now all know did not actually exist. However on the back of reading this outstanding book about Sam I am absolutely convinced he deserves every bit of the esteem he is often afforded. For those unfamiliar with Sam’s story although he stood little more than 5ft 7 he fought anyone and everyone between the lightweight and heavy and his record reads as a who’s who of the era containing as it does names like Gans, Walcott, Ketchel and Johnson as long as multiple battles at heavy with guys like Jeannette, Wills and McVea, despite the fact all of these last few guys held significant size and weight advantages over him.
Moyle has done a truly outstanding job in telling Sam’s story. In my experience of reading a lot about the old timers one of the common pitfalls authors fall into is, through the sheer volume of fights these guys had is writing books that read as little more than lists. The great strength of this book is Moyle avoids the text becoming too dry by offering a flavour of Sam’s personality outside the ring and serving up some genuinely amusing anecdotes which serve to portray Sam as a genuinely likeable guy, which only serves to make his failure to secure the title shots his talent surely deserved all the more heartbreaking.
Moyle covers all the major fights and rivalries in Sam’s life such as Gans, Walcott and Ketchel in admirable detail and provides valuable background to these fights which gives the fights a context otherwise lacking from the raw results. Moyle also gives detailed coverage and analysis of Sam’s long running but ultimately futile attempts to secure a title shot with heavyweight champion Jack Johnson which, for me certainly provided me with a fresh perspective on why this fight failed to come off.
I really cannot recommend Clay’s book highly enough; it is superbly written, well illustrated and exhaustively researched. For anyone with an interest in old time fighters or just wanting to know more about one of the most remarkable fighters to ever step through the ropes Moyle’s book is nigh on essential.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Book review by Antonio Santiago - March 2010
Book Review: Clay Moyle’s “Sam Langford, Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion”
Painters look for their art to reflect the culture and times in which their work was created, and so do writers most of the time. People like Hemingway, Capote, Caroline Cooney, Rigoberta Menchu, Nat Fleischer, Octavio Paz and my late friend, Enrique Laguerre, use or used their pen and pencils in the same way that Van Gogh, Money and Da Vinci used their brushes. Add Clay Moyle to that list.
As a boxing fan, I actually did not know much about Sam Langford. I had seen photos of him in the old Spanish edition of Ring Magazine, “Ring en Espanol”, and had heard about this knockouts and tremendous power, but there was a time, when I was about 16, that I actually confused him with Sam Crawford, a White baseball great! In fact, for periods I wasn’t even sure whether they were the same or not. When time passed, I learned more about Langford and that he was a Black boxer, but those were the basics. That’s why I received the book “Sam Langford, Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion” (Bennett & Hastings, 2008, ISBN-10: 1934733024, ISBN-13: 978-1934733028) with great interest and curiousity.
To my surprise, Mr. Moyle is not a Black writer but a White writer who, like me, has a deepened interest in the history of boxing. With all due respect to Black writers who have taught us, non-Blacks as well as Black peoples, the essence of the struggle for equality and the achievements that the Black community has reached not just in the United States, but everywhere else where there is racism, I expected Moyle to be a Black writer, because of the period in which Sam Langford’s story developed.
Clay Moyle’s book is more than just a book about a fighter during an era in the history of boxing. This book is about society in Canada, England and the United States at the times, and it’s differences. It is about how a country began to change from times in which Blacks were not allowed to fight Whites for championships or anything else, to the current times when the American President, Barack Obama, is Black!
The most interesting ting about the book is the inside view into the personality of Sam Langford that it presents. Details about Sam, the man, that one cannot see when looking at his record. Moyle gives us Sam Langford as an uneducated but very wise man who knew how to pull strings when needed. Moyle also explores Langford’s observations of the cultural structure that surrounds him, such as the time, in England, when he pointed out that while in Europe he could walk on the same side of the street with the Whites, while in America, he would have had to move to the side in front of a person of said race.
It’s like reading a book about Martin Luther King Jr., only the books topic fought for equality in the ring with boxing gloves on, not for equality outside it with words and a suit.
There also lies the beauty of this production. It does not excuse the inexcusable. It does not paint over the bigotry of past American society against Blacks, one that unfortunately now, to a lesser extend, turning against Latinos. Clay Moyle gives us a masterpiece that reminds us of what it was like for the people who had to face horrible treatment and for the man who had to face not only that, but also fearsome rivals inside the ring, like Fireman Jim Flynn, Tiger Flowers, Harry Wills, Tom McMahon, Joe Jeannette, Sam McVea, and many others. The truth is that, if you thought Mike Tyson was great (and he is an all-time great in my opinion), these guys were all as good, or almost as good as Tyson. Imagine getting off the ring after facing one of these guys just to face what Moyle so picturesquely portrays!
Also, the book does not paint over the negative side of boxing, the promoters, corrupters and so on, who have always existed and to this day act the same trying to steal boxer’s earnings and dignity, and who were out to get Sam Langford’s as well during this period. What Moyle delivers is a gritty, honest look at the man and the time in which he fought.
Moyle also manages to take us, imaginatively speaking, to the countries in which Langford fought in the early 20th century, and the contrasts between the people living in those countries. While Australia, for example, has had a well documented history of racism against Aborigine people, Langford rather enjoyed his time there with his wife and daughter. Clay Moyle’s investigative skills and research, however, revealed that among other things, one of Langford’s fights there was cancelled because, of all things, the hospital it was to benefit (or rather the director of it), did not approve of boxing!
Tome, it was good to read the book also because as a boxing fan, Like I said, I knew of Marvelous Marvin Hagler, of the Puerto Rican Wilfredo’s, about Julio Ceasar Chavez, Evander Holyfield, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, etc., hell, I even read about the great Marcel Cerdan and saw some of his fights on ESPN Classic or some old footage! But even though I had heard about Langford and sen one iconic photo of him, I learned so much about him and how difficult it was for him to obtain fights at the time (and the infamous “color line”), that I feel honored to have receives this piece of art by Moyle. Someone once said that we cannot understand our future without understanding our past, or something like that, and even as I don’t consider myself American per se, as I am a Puerto Rican Nationalist, the book helped me better understand the trials, triumphs and evolution of Blacks in society and in the sport of boxing.
If you truly want to enjoy a boxing book that takes you beyond the ropes and into a history lesson, this is really the book for you. I highly recommend it, and hopefully, when a book is written about Laila Ali or Christy Martin and their struggle to popularize women’s boxing, Clay Moyle will be the person typing it.
Painters look for their art to reflect the culture and times in which their work was created, and so do writers most of the time. People like Hemingway, Capote, Caroline Cooney, Rigoberta Menchu, Nat Fleischer, Octavio Paz and my late friend, Enrique Laguerre, use or used their pen and pencils in the same way that Van Gogh, Money and Da Vinci used their brushes. Add Clay Moyle to that list.
As a boxing fan, I actually did not know much about Sam Langford. I had seen photos of him in the old Spanish edition of Ring Magazine, “Ring en Espanol”, and had heard about this knockouts and tremendous power, but there was a time, when I was about 16, that I actually confused him with Sam Crawford, a White baseball great! In fact, for periods I wasn’t even sure whether they were the same or not. When time passed, I learned more about Langford and that he was a Black boxer, but those were the basics. That’s why I received the book “Sam Langford, Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion” (Bennett & Hastings, 2008, ISBN-10: 1934733024, ISBN-13: 978-1934733028) with great interest and curiousity.
To my surprise, Mr. Moyle is not a Black writer but a White writer who, like me, has a deepened interest in the history of boxing. With all due respect to Black writers who have taught us, non-Blacks as well as Black peoples, the essence of the struggle for equality and the achievements that the Black community has reached not just in the United States, but everywhere else where there is racism, I expected Moyle to be a Black writer, because of the period in which Sam Langford’s story developed.
Clay Moyle’s book is more than just a book about a fighter during an era in the history of boxing. This book is about society in Canada, England and the United States at the times, and it’s differences. It is about how a country began to change from times in which Blacks were not allowed to fight Whites for championships or anything else, to the current times when the American President, Barack Obama, is Black!
The most interesting ting about the book is the inside view into the personality of Sam Langford that it presents. Details about Sam, the man, that one cannot see when looking at his record. Moyle gives us Sam Langford as an uneducated but very wise man who knew how to pull strings when needed. Moyle also explores Langford’s observations of the cultural structure that surrounds him, such as the time, in England, when he pointed out that while in Europe he could walk on the same side of the street with the Whites, while in America, he would have had to move to the side in front of a person of said race.
It’s like reading a book about Martin Luther King Jr., only the books topic fought for equality in the ring with boxing gloves on, not for equality outside it with words and a suit.
There also lies the beauty of this production. It does not excuse the inexcusable. It does not paint over the bigotry of past American society against Blacks, one that unfortunately now, to a lesser extend, turning against Latinos. Clay Moyle gives us a masterpiece that reminds us of what it was like for the people who had to face horrible treatment and for the man who had to face not only that, but also fearsome rivals inside the ring, like Fireman Jim Flynn, Tiger Flowers, Harry Wills, Tom McMahon, Joe Jeannette, Sam McVea, and many others. The truth is that, if you thought Mike Tyson was great (and he is an all-time great in my opinion), these guys were all as good, or almost as good as Tyson. Imagine getting off the ring after facing one of these guys just to face what Moyle so picturesquely portrays!
Also, the book does not paint over the negative side of boxing, the promoters, corrupters and so on, who have always existed and to this day act the same trying to steal boxer’s earnings and dignity, and who were out to get Sam Langford’s as well during this period. What Moyle delivers is a gritty, honest look at the man and the time in which he fought.
Moyle also manages to take us, imaginatively speaking, to the countries in which Langford fought in the early 20th century, and the contrasts between the people living in those countries. While Australia, for example, has had a well documented history of racism against Aborigine people, Langford rather enjoyed his time there with his wife and daughter. Clay Moyle’s investigative skills and research, however, revealed that among other things, one of Langford’s fights there was cancelled because, of all things, the hospital it was to benefit (or rather the director of it), did not approve of boxing!
Tome, it was good to read the book also because as a boxing fan, Like I said, I knew of Marvelous Marvin Hagler, of the Puerto Rican Wilfredo’s, about Julio Ceasar Chavez, Evander Holyfield, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, etc., hell, I even read about the great Marcel Cerdan and saw some of his fights on ESPN Classic or some old footage! But even though I had heard about Langford and sen one iconic photo of him, I learned so much about him and how difficult it was for him to obtain fights at the time (and the infamous “color line”), that I feel honored to have receives this piece of art by Moyle. Someone once said that we cannot understand our future without understanding our past, or something like that, and even as I don’t consider myself American per se, as I am a Puerto Rican Nationalist, the book helped me better understand the trials, triumphs and evolution of Blacks in society and in the sport of boxing.
If you truly want to enjoy a boxing book that takes you beyond the ropes and into a history lesson, this is really the book for you. I highly recommend it, and hopefully, when a book is written about Laila Ali or Christy Martin and their struggle to popularize women’s boxing, Clay Moyle will be the person typing it.
Friday, October 2, 2009
WWW.BADLEFTHOOK.COM Book review by Scott Christ
Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion
"Sam Langford was the toughest little son of a bitch that ever lived." -- Jack Johnson
"The hell I feared no man. There was one man I wouldn't fight because I knew he would flatten me. I was afraid of Sam Langford." -- Jack Dempsey
In the annals of xoing history, you have fighters whose iconic names live on forever, gathering acclaim over the decades. Johnson and Dempsey, Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, and so on and so forth.
But then you have the other names. The men whose due was not given them in their own time, whose legend grows first with research, then in an almost mythical nature. Sam Langford is one of those.
Langford (181-34-38, 128 KO's) stood no more than 5 feet, 7 inches. He fought lightweights, and made his way all the way up to the heavyweight ranks. Abe Attell once named Langford the greatest middleweight to ever live, and while a debatable point, it can easily be argued that Langford was, in fact, that level of fighter.
His punching power is legendary. Of that power, Harry Wills once remarked, "When Sam hit you in the body, you'd kind of look around half expecting to see his glove sticking out of your back. When he hit you on the chin, you didn't think at all until they brought you back to life. When he knocked me out in New Orleans, I thought I'd been killed."
Keep in mind, Wills was a 6' 2", legitimate heavyweight, and an all-time great at that.
Clay Moyle's book, Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion, collects all of the greatest stories of Langford's globetrotting, take-any-fight career, one that to this day is sadly underrated. It's a fascinating studyof a man and his desire to defy not only odds, but the sheer fear of him that existed in so many of his contemporaries. His chase of Jack Johnson is gripping, even when you know that Jack never wanted to get back in the ring with him after one meeting left him discouraged.
How would a man so small in stature have been so devestating? The legendary Ring Magazine editor Nat Fleischer ranked Langford as the seventh-best puncher of all time. Often he only got fights because he promise to take it easy on opponents. Had he lived in even a slightly different time, Langford could have been world champion at 135, 147, 160, 175 and heavyweight. Really think about that - it was a different world in so many ways.
Moyle's story of Langford's career is incredibly detailed, painstakingly researched, and leaves nothing out. Langford's story is remarkable enough, but Moyle brings it to life in such a way that I found myself emotionally invested in the career of a fighter whose last fight came in 1926, three years before my grandfather was born.
If you don't know the story of Sam Langford yet, or even if you do, I couldn't recommend the book more highly. It can be purchased at SamLangford.com
Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion
"Sam Langford was the toughest little son of a bitch that ever lived." -- Jack Johnson
"The hell I feared no man. There was one man I wouldn't fight because I knew he would flatten me. I was afraid of Sam Langford." -- Jack Dempsey
In the annals of xoing history, you have fighters whose iconic names live on forever, gathering acclaim over the decades. Johnson and Dempsey, Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, and so on and so forth.
But then you have the other names. The men whose due was not given them in their own time, whose legend grows first with research, then in an almost mythical nature. Sam Langford is one of those.
Langford (181-34-38, 128 KO's) stood no more than 5 feet, 7 inches. He fought lightweights, and made his way all the way up to the heavyweight ranks. Abe Attell once named Langford the greatest middleweight to ever live, and while a debatable point, it can easily be argued that Langford was, in fact, that level of fighter.
His punching power is legendary. Of that power, Harry Wills once remarked, "When Sam hit you in the body, you'd kind of look around half expecting to see his glove sticking out of your back. When he hit you on the chin, you didn't think at all until they brought you back to life. When he knocked me out in New Orleans, I thought I'd been killed."
Keep in mind, Wills was a 6' 2", legitimate heavyweight, and an all-time great at that.
Clay Moyle's book, Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion, collects all of the greatest stories of Langford's globetrotting, take-any-fight career, one that to this day is sadly underrated. It's a fascinating studyof a man and his desire to defy not only odds, but the sheer fear of him that existed in so many of his contemporaries. His chase of Jack Johnson is gripping, even when you know that Jack never wanted to get back in the ring with him after one meeting left him discouraged.
How would a man so small in stature have been so devestating? The legendary Ring Magazine editor Nat Fleischer ranked Langford as the seventh-best puncher of all time. Often he only got fights because he promise to take it easy on opponents. Had he lived in even a slightly different time, Langford could have been world champion at 135, 147, 160, 175 and heavyweight. Really think about that - it was a different world in so many ways.
Moyle's story of Langford's career is incredibly detailed, painstakingly researched, and leaves nothing out. Langford's story is remarkable enough, but Moyle brings it to life in such a way that I found myself emotionally invested in the career of a fighter whose last fight came in 1926, three years before my grandfather was born.
If you don't know the story of Sam Langford yet, or even if you do, I couldn't recommend the book more highly. It can be purchased at SamLangford.com
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Review by Graham Houston
Fightwriter.com
Graham Say's by Graham Houston July 26, 2009
Every so often, in forums where boxing is debated, fans argue over who was the greatest fighter never to have won a world title. Sam Langford, the old-time heavyweight contender, might well hold this distinction, and one who has no doubts is author Clay Moyle, who traces Langford's life with admirable detail in Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion (Bennett & Hastings Publishing $29.95)
Langford stood only 5 ft 6 1/2 ins but he was wide-bodied, with a massive chest, and long-armed. He boxed from from 1902 until 1926 and had more than 200 wins.
When Langford was at his peak, the heavyweight champion was Jack Johnson, who had defeated him in a 15-round bout two years before winning the title. Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, avoided Langford (along with other outstanding black contenders of the time, Sam McVey and Joe Jeannette), preferring to meet Caucasian challengers in generally more lucrative and less-risky bouts during the White Hope era.
Author Moyle brings this period of boxing history to life, his diligent research capturing the tenor of the times. Of particular interest are passages from contemporaryt accounts of Langford's most significant fights.
When Langford met Johnson in 1906 he weighed only 156 pounds but received much acclaim for his courageous stand. Knocked down in the eighth round, he stubbornly took the fight to the much bigger Johnson, showing "a gameness and capacity for punishment that seemed beyond the powers of a human being" according to the Police Gazette. Although well beaten, Langford won his $500 wager with the future champion that Johnson would not be able to beat him inside the distance.
Efforts were made to match the fighers again after Johnson had won the title, and it did appear that terms had been agreed for a fight in Australia in 1912. The stickin point was Johnson's demand that a $15,000 forfeit be deposited in the U.S. and not with a Sydney newspaper as proposed by the Australian promoter Hugh D. McIntosh.
There seems little doubt that Johnson had no great wish for a rematch with Langford, who had improved since the first fight and had gained much more experience of fighting against bigger men.
Unable to get a title shot, Langford engaged in a series of bouts with Jeannette and McVey, and, when past his best, he had a number of fights with a later black heavyweight of considerable repute, Harry Wills.
Although nicknamed "The Boston Tar Baby," Langford was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. He was discovered, Moyle's book informs us, by the Boston fight manager and promoter Joe Woodman, who hired a teenaged, down-on-his-luck Langford to work as a porter and sort of odd-job man at a gymnasium-cum-boxing-venue that Woodman owned. When Langford started winning amateur bouts, Woodman took a closer interest in the novice boxer and turned him professional. Woodman would be Langford's manager for the next 15 years although, the book informs us, they never had a formal contract.
Langford was to fight in numerous countries, including Britain, when he made the famous remark that he had brought his own referee -- whereupon he held up a massive fist.
When Langford fought the British heavyweight champion, Iron Hague, in 1909, he suffered a knockdown but came back to win in the fourth round with a right hand that, according to a contemporary account, lifted Hague clean off his feet. Members of the National Sporting Club in London, where the fight took place, were apparently convinced that Langford had the beating of Jack Johnson if the bout could be arranged.
Amazingly, Langford fought while blind in one eye for the last nine years of his career. His vision problems arose in his 1917 bout with the towering white heavyweight contender, Fred Fulton, when he was unable to see his opponent: Langford's corner retired him after six rounds, Langford said later that he experienced intense pain when hit with a right hand to the left temple in the fourth round, "like a thousand needles shoved into his skull," and instantly lost vision in his left eye. laer in the bout Langford was unable to see out of the right eye, either.
The vision in his left eye did not return, but Langford was back in the ring two months later.
At the time of the fight with Fulton, Langford was showing clear signs of decline. he no longer trained, saying in an interview that he had become disillusioned. "I became sure that no matter how good I became I'd never be a world's heavyweight champion because the doors were closed."
The book's closing chapters -- Retirement and The Forgotten Man, detailing how the blind Langford maintained a cheerful exterior in impoverished circumstances, made for poignant reading.
We can only speculate how Langford would have fared against the modern-era champions, but in his prime he was hugely respected by sportswriters and fellow-fighters. The great champion Jack Dempsey was quoted in his autobiography Dempsey as saying: "The hell I feared no man...I was afraid of Sam Langford."
Old-time white heavywweight contender Gunboat Smith, who fought both Dempsey and Langford, said in a 1942 interview: "Langford versus Dempsey, both in their prime, would have been bad news for Dempsey." Smith even went so far as to say that a peak Langford would have beaten every heavyweight champion up to and including the champion at the time of the interview, Joe Louis.
It is widely believed that Langford took it easy on many opponents for business reasons, either as a favour to a promoter or because if he had not damaged an opponent too severely he could always meet him again for another payday.
When a New York Herald Tribune reporter named Al Laney helped to initiate a trust fund to afford some financial relief in 1944, one of Langford's old multi-fight opponents, unnamed in the book, declined to make a contribution, provoking the remark: "You want to make me rich, Mr. Laney?...Just ask that man to give a dollar for every round I carried him."
Moyle's book has been painstakingly researched and provides an engrossin look into not just Langford's life and career but into a long-ago period in boxing history: it is a worthy tribute to a wonderful fighter.
Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion, 429 pages; illustrated; Bennett & Hastings Publishing, www.bennetthastings.com
Graham Say's by Graham Houston July 26, 2009
Every so often, in forums where boxing is debated, fans argue over who was the greatest fighter never to have won a world title. Sam Langford, the old-time heavyweight contender, might well hold this distinction, and one who has no doubts is author Clay Moyle, who traces Langford's life with admirable detail in Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion (Bennett & Hastings Publishing $29.95)
Langford stood only 5 ft 6 1/2 ins but he was wide-bodied, with a massive chest, and long-armed. He boxed from from 1902 until 1926 and had more than 200 wins.
When Langford was at his peak, the heavyweight champion was Jack Johnson, who had defeated him in a 15-round bout two years before winning the title. Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, avoided Langford (along with other outstanding black contenders of the time, Sam McVey and Joe Jeannette), preferring to meet Caucasian challengers in generally more lucrative and less-risky bouts during the White Hope era.
Author Moyle brings this period of boxing history to life, his diligent research capturing the tenor of the times. Of particular interest are passages from contemporaryt accounts of Langford's most significant fights.
When Langford met Johnson in 1906 he weighed only 156 pounds but received much acclaim for his courageous stand. Knocked down in the eighth round, he stubbornly took the fight to the much bigger Johnson, showing "a gameness and capacity for punishment that seemed beyond the powers of a human being" according to the Police Gazette. Although well beaten, Langford won his $500 wager with the future champion that Johnson would not be able to beat him inside the distance.
Efforts were made to match the fighers again after Johnson had won the title, and it did appear that terms had been agreed for a fight in Australia in 1912. The stickin point was Johnson's demand that a $15,000 forfeit be deposited in the U.S. and not with a Sydney newspaper as proposed by the Australian promoter Hugh D. McIntosh.
There seems little doubt that Johnson had no great wish for a rematch with Langford, who had improved since the first fight and had gained much more experience of fighting against bigger men.
Unable to get a title shot, Langford engaged in a series of bouts with Jeannette and McVey, and, when past his best, he had a number of fights with a later black heavyweight of considerable repute, Harry Wills.
Although nicknamed "The Boston Tar Baby," Langford was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. He was discovered, Moyle's book informs us, by the Boston fight manager and promoter Joe Woodman, who hired a teenaged, down-on-his-luck Langford to work as a porter and sort of odd-job man at a gymnasium-cum-boxing-venue that Woodman owned. When Langford started winning amateur bouts, Woodman took a closer interest in the novice boxer and turned him professional. Woodman would be Langford's manager for the next 15 years although, the book informs us, they never had a formal contract.
Langford was to fight in numerous countries, including Britain, when he made the famous remark that he had brought his own referee -- whereupon he held up a massive fist.
When Langford fought the British heavyweight champion, Iron Hague, in 1909, he suffered a knockdown but came back to win in the fourth round with a right hand that, according to a contemporary account, lifted Hague clean off his feet. Members of the National Sporting Club in London, where the fight took place, were apparently convinced that Langford had the beating of Jack Johnson if the bout could be arranged.
Amazingly, Langford fought while blind in one eye for the last nine years of his career. His vision problems arose in his 1917 bout with the towering white heavyweight contender, Fred Fulton, when he was unable to see his opponent: Langford's corner retired him after six rounds, Langford said later that he experienced intense pain when hit with a right hand to the left temple in the fourth round, "like a thousand needles shoved into his skull," and instantly lost vision in his left eye. laer in the bout Langford was unable to see out of the right eye, either.
The vision in his left eye did not return, but Langford was back in the ring two months later.
At the time of the fight with Fulton, Langford was showing clear signs of decline. he no longer trained, saying in an interview that he had become disillusioned. "I became sure that no matter how good I became I'd never be a world's heavyweight champion because the doors were closed."
The book's closing chapters -- Retirement and The Forgotten Man, detailing how the blind Langford maintained a cheerful exterior in impoverished circumstances, made for poignant reading.
We can only speculate how Langford would have fared against the modern-era champions, but in his prime he was hugely respected by sportswriters and fellow-fighters. The great champion Jack Dempsey was quoted in his autobiography Dempsey as saying: "The hell I feared no man...I was afraid of Sam Langford."
Old-time white heavywweight contender Gunboat Smith, who fought both Dempsey and Langford, said in a 1942 interview: "Langford versus Dempsey, both in their prime, would have been bad news for Dempsey." Smith even went so far as to say that a peak Langford would have beaten every heavyweight champion up to and including the champion at the time of the interview, Joe Louis.
It is widely believed that Langford took it easy on many opponents for business reasons, either as a favour to a promoter or because if he had not damaged an opponent too severely he could always meet him again for another payday.
When a New York Herald Tribune reporter named Al Laney helped to initiate a trust fund to afford some financial relief in 1944, one of Langford's old multi-fight opponents, unnamed in the book, declined to make a contribution, provoking the remark: "You want to make me rich, Mr. Laney?...Just ask that man to give a dollar for every round I carried him."
Moyle's book has been painstakingly researched and provides an engrossin look into not just Langford's life and career but into a long-ago period in boxing history: it is a worthy tribute to a wonderful fighter.
Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion, 429 pages; illustrated; Bennett & Hastings Publishing, www.bennetthastings.com
Monday, July 20, 2009
Book Review by Tracy Callis of Cyber Boxing Zone - July 2009:
Clay Moyle has published the most definitive biography of Sam Langford ever presented. The work is a very interesting read about "Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion." The product of extensive research, it is loaded with many rare details and excellent photographs. Sources for the facts are thoroughly documented. The book is well-written and is a smooth blend of boxing information and goings-on in Sam's life.
In the book, Mr. Moyle, with a sharp eye for detail, covers the life journey of Sam from his early days to his last, though not in exact chronological order, ever in pursuit of the title he never got the chance to win. Personal incidents in Sam's life, descriptions of his ring battles and surrounding events as well as the likes and dislikes of this great fighter are included.
Entire chapters are devoted to Sam's encounters with Joe Gans, Joe Walcott, Jack Johnson, Iron Hague, Stan Ketchel, Jeff Clarke, Sam McVey, Gunboat Smith as well as his activities in England and Australia. Additional interesting events in Langford's life are discussed in other chapters.
The great ring skills of Langford are lauded, his personality is touched upon and some of his tastes are identified - clothes, cars, cigars - and Sam is revealed to be a man who did not manage his money well.
This book is an outstanding source for facts of Sam Langford's career and life experiences, is interesting and informative and is an important read for historians and fans.
Clay Moyle resides in Edgewood, Washington and is a member of the International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO). He is a collector of boxing memorabilia and books - and owns an extensive collection of over 3,000 titles. Clay has a personal website, www.prizefightingbooks.com.
This very detailed book (ISB: 978-1-934733-02-8, 429 pages, $29.95) can be ordered from from the website www.samlangford.com
Clay Moyle has published the most definitive biography of Sam Langford ever presented. The work is a very interesting read about "Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion." The product of extensive research, it is loaded with many rare details and excellent photographs. Sources for the facts are thoroughly documented. The book is well-written and is a smooth blend of boxing information and goings-on in Sam's life.
In the book, Mr. Moyle, with a sharp eye for detail, covers the life journey of Sam from his early days to his last, though not in exact chronological order, ever in pursuit of the title he never got the chance to win. Personal incidents in Sam's life, descriptions of his ring battles and surrounding events as well as the likes and dislikes of this great fighter are included.
Entire chapters are devoted to Sam's encounters with Joe Gans, Joe Walcott, Jack Johnson, Iron Hague, Stan Ketchel, Jeff Clarke, Sam McVey, Gunboat Smith as well as his activities in England and Australia. Additional interesting events in Langford's life are discussed in other chapters.
The great ring skills of Langford are lauded, his personality is touched upon and some of his tastes are identified - clothes, cars, cigars - and Sam is revealed to be a man who did not manage his money well.
This book is an outstanding source for facts of Sam Langford's career and life experiences, is interesting and informative and is an important read for historians and fans.
Clay Moyle resides in Edgewood, Washington and is a member of the International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO). He is a collector of boxing memorabilia and books - and owns an extensive collection of over 3,000 titles. Clay has a personal website, www.prizefightingbooks.com.
This very detailed book (ISB: 978-1-934733-02-8, 429 pages, $29.95) can be ordered from from the website www.samlangford.com
Monday, July 6, 2009
July 6, 2009 - Cambridge Chronicle
The Greatest Boxer You Never Knew Hails From Cambridge by Jessica Bal
Cambridge - Sam Langford fought hundreds of matches in his 24-year career, consistently beating competitors much larger than himself in five weight divisions. Several leading sportswriters called him the best boxer that ever was. Yet at the time of his induction into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1955, he was the only non-champion included among the ranks.
Clay Moyle's book, "Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion," attempts to grant Langford some overdue recognition. Langford, known as the "Boston Tar Baby," was a Cambridge resident.
When asked why no one had tackled Langford's biography before, Moyle cited two main reasons. For one, the research was a daunting task. Moyle, who lives in Washington state with a family and a full-time job, spent about seven years writing and scouring old newspapers to complete the book.
Langford's story was also neglected because he was never a world champion. White contenders refused to fight him because of his skin color, and other African American boxers claimed he was "too good." Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champ, never gave Langford a chance at the title, and many argue that Langford would have won.
Moyle, who is a member of the International Boxing Research Organization and an avid boxing memorabilia collector, came across bits and pieces about Langford in boxing books and became intrigued. "The more I read, the more impressed I was," he said. "He's a real colorful character, and I liked everything about him. I thought there was a real story there." The biography is Moyle's first book.
For Moyle, first-hand accounts of Langford were hard to come by. Near the end of his research, however, he finally tracked down the boxer's great-granddaughter, Cambridge native Carol Doyle.
Though Langford was originally from Nova Scotia, his wife and daughter settled on Howard Street in Cambridge. When Doyule was just 5 and 6 years old, she spent every Saturday with her grandmother and great-grandmother at their home. Doyle remembers Langford's visits to the house as special occasions, ones that changed the atmosphere completely.
"He filled the room," she said. "There was something literally special about this man, but I couldn't understand it at the time. I could sense it though." She remembers details like the smell of his cigar smoke and the feel of running her hands through a bucket full of buttons while her grandmothers told her of Langford's travels and accomplishments.
When she met the pugilist as a girl, Doyle could only manage a meek hello, and watched the mysterious giant from a distance. Moyle's book helped give her the voice she needed to inform others of Langford's skills. "I wanted to let my sons know that he wasn't a figment of my imagination," she said. "He was there. All of his greatness and accomplishments existed."
Her son, Brendon Foster, recalls the first time he saw one of Langford's fights on a YouTube video. "It made me tear up," he said. "The crowd...and everything...that really brought it home. I thought 'that's my great-great grandfather about to fight." Foster has a three-year-old son, named Brendon Langford Samuel Foster.
Last month, Doyle finally met the man who wrote her great-grandfather's biography. The two attended the Boxing Hall of Fame annual induction ceremony, where Doyle received an award in Langford's name from former Australian Boxing Hall of Fame President Arnold Thomas. Langford fought in Australia from 1912 to 1913, and was inducted into Australia's Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004. At the time of the induction, the Hall of Fame was not aware that the boxer had any living descendants, so they kept the award in Australia. Moyle's book acted as the critical link to Langford's great-granddaughter.
For Doyle, the presentation of the award was especially poignant. "Sam's spirit had been around an awful lot for the last few years and I wondered what I could do," she said. "Little did I know that across the states was Clay Moyle, researching, writing, and relentlessly trying to find me. It just all came together.
Doyle, who has lived in Cambridge all her life, wears her roots proudly-and literally-with an "Entering Cambridge" bracelet adorning her wrist. Close to the bracelet is her wedding ring, encrusted with a diamond originally belonging to a pair of earrings that Langford gave to his wife years ago.
For more information or to order a copy of Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion, visit www.samlangford.com
The Greatest Boxer You Never Knew Hails From Cambridge by Jessica Bal
Cambridge - Sam Langford fought hundreds of matches in his 24-year career, consistently beating competitors much larger than himself in five weight divisions. Several leading sportswriters called him the best boxer that ever was. Yet at the time of his induction into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1955, he was the only non-champion included among the ranks.
Clay Moyle's book, "Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion," attempts to grant Langford some overdue recognition. Langford, known as the "Boston Tar Baby," was a Cambridge resident.
When asked why no one had tackled Langford's biography before, Moyle cited two main reasons. For one, the research was a daunting task. Moyle, who lives in Washington state with a family and a full-time job, spent about seven years writing and scouring old newspapers to complete the book.
Langford's story was also neglected because he was never a world champion. White contenders refused to fight him because of his skin color, and other African American boxers claimed he was "too good." Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champ, never gave Langford a chance at the title, and many argue that Langford would have won.
Moyle, who is a member of the International Boxing Research Organization and an avid boxing memorabilia collector, came across bits and pieces about Langford in boxing books and became intrigued. "The more I read, the more impressed I was," he said. "He's a real colorful character, and I liked everything about him. I thought there was a real story there." The biography is Moyle's first book.
For Moyle, first-hand accounts of Langford were hard to come by. Near the end of his research, however, he finally tracked down the boxer's great-granddaughter, Cambridge native Carol Doyle.
Though Langford was originally from Nova Scotia, his wife and daughter settled on Howard Street in Cambridge. When Doyule was just 5 and 6 years old, she spent every Saturday with her grandmother and great-grandmother at their home. Doyle remembers Langford's visits to the house as special occasions, ones that changed the atmosphere completely.
"He filled the room," she said. "There was something literally special about this man, but I couldn't understand it at the time. I could sense it though." She remembers details like the smell of his cigar smoke and the feel of running her hands through a bucket full of buttons while her grandmothers told her of Langford's travels and accomplishments.
When she met the pugilist as a girl, Doyle could only manage a meek hello, and watched the mysterious giant from a distance. Moyle's book helped give her the voice she needed to inform others of Langford's skills. "I wanted to let my sons know that he wasn't a figment of my imagination," she said. "He was there. All of his greatness and accomplishments existed."
Her son, Brendon Foster, recalls the first time he saw one of Langford's fights on a YouTube video. "It made me tear up," he said. "The crowd...and everything...that really brought it home. I thought 'that's my great-great grandfather about to fight." Foster has a three-year-old son, named Brendon Langford Samuel Foster.
Last month, Doyle finally met the man who wrote her great-grandfather's biography. The two attended the Boxing Hall of Fame annual induction ceremony, where Doyle received an award in Langford's name from former Australian Boxing Hall of Fame President Arnold Thomas. Langford fought in Australia from 1912 to 1913, and was inducted into Australia's Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004. At the time of the induction, the Hall of Fame was not aware that the boxer had any living descendants, so they kept the award in Australia. Moyle's book acted as the critical link to Langford's great-granddaughter.
For Doyle, the presentation of the award was especially poignant. "Sam's spirit had been around an awful lot for the last few years and I wondered what I could do," she said. "Little did I know that across the states was Clay Moyle, researching, writing, and relentlessly trying to find me. It just all came together.
Doyle, who has lived in Cambridge all her life, wears her roots proudly-and literally-with an "Entering Cambridge" bracelet adorning her wrist. Close to the bracelet is her wedding ring, encrusted with a diamond originally belonging to a pair of earrings that Langford gave to his wife years ago.
For more information or to order a copy of Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion, visit www.samlangford.com
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Marc Litchtenfeld 'Through the Ropes' 5/28/09: "History buffs will love hearing from Clay Moyle, author of "Sam Langford, Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion". I'm about halfway through the book and it's sensational. It is thoroughly researched but very readable. There are some who believe Langford may be one of the greatest fighters who ever lived. Tune in Thursday night to find out why."
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