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
Friday, October 2, 2009
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."
Friday, March 6, 2009
Boxing Historian Brings Langford Back to Life
John McGrath - Tacoma News Tribune 3/4/09
Sam Langford was born on this date in 1886. He celebrated his last birthday in 1955, though how much celebrating was done is anybody’s guess.
Langford by then was blind, confined to the second-floor room of a Boston nursing home. His boxing career had taken him around the world – he met kings and queens, befriended Picasso, became a household name everywhere from Australia to Argentina – but in his final years, the world he’d been dispatched to meet and greet had deteriorated to a bed, a chair and a radio.
Shortly before his death, the caretaker at his nursing home asked Langford what he would do if his fondest wish were granted.
“Missus,” he said, “I’ve been everywhere I wanted to go, I’ve seen everything I wanted to see and I guess I’ve eaten just about everything there is to eat. Now I just want to sit here in my room and not cause you any trouble.”
Another visitor found the ex-fighter in a similarly contented mood.
“Don’t nobody need to feel for old Sam,” he said. “I had plenty of good times. I been all over the world. I fought maybe 600 fights, and every one was a pleasure.”
Edgewood boxing historian Clay Moyle recalls Langford’s irrepressible spirit with the familiarity of a close relative.
“I love that quote: ‘Don’t nobody need to feel sorry for old Sam,’ ” Moyle said the other day. “It tells you that despite all the hardships he faced, he kept an incredibly positive outlook.”
While growing up on Bainbridge Island, Moyle never had heard of Sam Langford. Though he enjoyed watching the occasional title fight on TV with his father and grandfather, Moyle was, foremost, a Sonics fan.
But 20 years ago, as he was going through a divorce, Moyle started working out at Seattle’s Hillman City Gym.
“I decided I wanted to learn how to box,” said Moyle, who will turn 52 in April. “The more I learned about boxing, the more curious I got about boxing history. And one name kept appearing in my research: Sam Langford.
“All the fighters and trainers from his era talked about his dominance, yet nobody remembers him. I thought, there’s got to be a story here.”
There were, it turns out, hundreds of stories, comprehensively assembled by Moyle into a biography published in May: “Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion.”
The subtitle explains why Langford, described by sportswriting legend Grantland Rice as “about the best fighting man I’ve ever watched,” remains obscure to most fight fans born after 1930.
“You can argue he could’ve owned the title in any of five different weight classes,” Moyle said. “And there’s no doubt he could’ve been a champion in three.”
A multitude of forces conspired against the 5-foot-7 Langford. He was a black fighter who during his prime couldn’t coax the reigning heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson, into a title match. Johnson saw no box-office benefits in facing a fellow black man.
A 20-year-old Langford had taken Johnson the maximum 15 rounds before losing a unanimous decision in 1906 – Johnson outweighed his challenger by at least 40 pounds, and was eight years older – a rematch, with a belt at stake, was out of the question.
Middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel was one of the rare white fighters willing to give Langford a chance, but those plans were scuttled when Ketchel, as John Lardner would later write, “was fatally shot in the back by the common-law husband of the lady who was cooking his breakfast.”
Langford also was a victim of his ferocious talent.
“The hell I feared no man,” Jack Dempsey once said. “There was one man, he was even smaller than I, and I wouldn’t fight him because I knew he would flatten me. I was afraid of Sam Langford.”
Given Langford’s unfulfilled championship hopes and subsequent physical problems – he refused to retire after suffering a detached retina, and eventually lost sight in both eyes – it would be convenient to frame his story as another boxing tragedy.
But if not for boxing, what kind of future awaited Langford after he left his Nova Scotia home at 15? He had little schooling and fewer prospects. He got by with a pair of fists that gained him a bit of wealth and lot of fame. And though neither was permanent, the ride was remarkable.
“Sam wasn’t educated, but he was smart,” Moyle said. “He bluffed opponents into fearing his right hand, but his knockout punch was a left hook.
“And he was quick-witted – writers were drawn to him. He’d light a cigar after a victory. When opponents would enter the ring, he’d laugh and joke with the fans. A lot of the antics we associate with Muhammad Ali, Sam was doing decades before.”
When Moyle began the biography, he was a seasoned historian but a rookie author. He now knows Rule No. 1 of the book-writing business: Regard the project as labor of love, but don’t expect it to pay any bills.
“I didn’t realize what I was getting into,” he said. “I’ve got a family and a full-time job, and the book was something I did on the side. It took seven years. But having finished it, I can tell you it’s the proudest achievement of my life.”
His subject’s fighting gusto must’ve rubbed off on Moyle.
His next project? A biography of heavyweight Billy Miske, who in 1923 literally arose from his death bed to accept a fight that would stock his house with Christmas gifts.
Although Miske’s bout occurred too long ago to be remembered by boxing fans, it was too much of an inspiration to be left forgotten by one.
For information on how to order Clay Moyle’s biography of Sam Langford, visit www.samlangford.com.
John McGrath - Tacoma News Tribune 3/4/09
Sam Langford was born on this date in 1886. He celebrated his last birthday in 1955, though how much celebrating was done is anybody’s guess.
Langford by then was blind, confined to the second-floor room of a Boston nursing home. His boxing career had taken him around the world – he met kings and queens, befriended Picasso, became a household name everywhere from Australia to Argentina – but in his final years, the world he’d been dispatched to meet and greet had deteriorated to a bed, a chair and a radio.
Shortly before his death, the caretaker at his nursing home asked Langford what he would do if his fondest wish were granted.
“Missus,” he said, “I’ve been everywhere I wanted to go, I’ve seen everything I wanted to see and I guess I’ve eaten just about everything there is to eat. Now I just want to sit here in my room and not cause you any trouble.”
Another visitor found the ex-fighter in a similarly contented mood.
“Don’t nobody need to feel for old Sam,” he said. “I had plenty of good times. I been all over the world. I fought maybe 600 fights, and every one was a pleasure.”
Edgewood boxing historian Clay Moyle recalls Langford’s irrepressible spirit with the familiarity of a close relative.
“I love that quote: ‘Don’t nobody need to feel sorry for old Sam,’ ” Moyle said the other day. “It tells you that despite all the hardships he faced, he kept an incredibly positive outlook.”
While growing up on Bainbridge Island, Moyle never had heard of Sam Langford. Though he enjoyed watching the occasional title fight on TV with his father and grandfather, Moyle was, foremost, a Sonics fan.
But 20 years ago, as he was going through a divorce, Moyle started working out at Seattle’s Hillman City Gym.
“I decided I wanted to learn how to box,” said Moyle, who will turn 52 in April. “The more I learned about boxing, the more curious I got about boxing history. And one name kept appearing in my research: Sam Langford.
“All the fighters and trainers from his era talked about his dominance, yet nobody remembers him. I thought, there’s got to be a story here.”
There were, it turns out, hundreds of stories, comprehensively assembled by Moyle into a biography published in May: “Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion.”
The subtitle explains why Langford, described by sportswriting legend Grantland Rice as “about the best fighting man I’ve ever watched,” remains obscure to most fight fans born after 1930.
“You can argue he could’ve owned the title in any of five different weight classes,” Moyle said. “And there’s no doubt he could’ve been a champion in three.”
A multitude of forces conspired against the 5-foot-7 Langford. He was a black fighter who during his prime couldn’t coax the reigning heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson, into a title match. Johnson saw no box-office benefits in facing a fellow black man.
A 20-year-old Langford had taken Johnson the maximum 15 rounds before losing a unanimous decision in 1906 – Johnson outweighed his challenger by at least 40 pounds, and was eight years older – a rematch, with a belt at stake, was out of the question.
Middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel was one of the rare white fighters willing to give Langford a chance, but those plans were scuttled when Ketchel, as John Lardner would later write, “was fatally shot in the back by the common-law husband of the lady who was cooking his breakfast.”
Langford also was a victim of his ferocious talent.
“The hell I feared no man,” Jack Dempsey once said. “There was one man, he was even smaller than I, and I wouldn’t fight him because I knew he would flatten me. I was afraid of Sam Langford.”
Given Langford’s unfulfilled championship hopes and subsequent physical problems – he refused to retire after suffering a detached retina, and eventually lost sight in both eyes – it would be convenient to frame his story as another boxing tragedy.
But if not for boxing, what kind of future awaited Langford after he left his Nova Scotia home at 15? He had little schooling and fewer prospects. He got by with a pair of fists that gained him a bit of wealth and lot of fame. And though neither was permanent, the ride was remarkable.
“Sam wasn’t educated, but he was smart,” Moyle said. “He bluffed opponents into fearing his right hand, but his knockout punch was a left hook.
“And he was quick-witted – writers were drawn to him. He’d light a cigar after a victory. When opponents would enter the ring, he’d laugh and joke with the fans. A lot of the antics we associate with Muhammad Ali, Sam was doing decades before.”
When Moyle began the biography, he was a seasoned historian but a rookie author. He now knows Rule No. 1 of the book-writing business: Regard the project as labor of love, but don’t expect it to pay any bills.
“I didn’t realize what I was getting into,” he said. “I’ve got a family and a full-time job, and the book was something I did on the side. It took seven years. But having finished it, I can tell you it’s the proudest achievement of my life.”
His subject’s fighting gusto must’ve rubbed off on Moyle.
His next project? A biography of heavyweight Billy Miske, who in 1923 literally arose from his death bed to accept a fight that would stock his house with Christmas gifts.
Although Miske’s bout occurred too long ago to be remembered by boxing fans, it was too much of an inspiration to be left forgotten by one.
For information on how to order Clay Moyle’s biography of Sam Langford, visit www.samlangford.com.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Boxing News magazine review
‘Boxing News’ magazine:
George Zeleny says this tome dispels some of the myths and is well told and researched
The Sam Langford story is one of the most fascinating in boxing history. It’s fully of remarkable episodes, apocryphal stories, triumph, frustration, disaster and, ultimately recognition.
Clay Moyle has produced a prodigious book on Langford’s life that is a must for any boxing fan with even the slightest interest in those early times.
Langford boxed for 23 years from 1902 until 1925. Standing only 5 ft 7 in and rarely weighing above middleweight, he fought them all, including future world heavyweight legend Jack Johnson at age 20.
Boxing mythology has it that Johnson was given such a hard fight by Sam that Jack refused to fight him again. Moyle’s honest account of the battle tells a different story.
The young Langford was soundly beaten, dropped three times and battered and bloodied at the final bell. Certainly Johnson refused to defend his title against him once he had become champion, but that was more a matter of logistics and finance and the racial climate of the era in which they fought.
Many of the great stories about Langford passed down over the years are hard to substantiate and the author dispels two. There was the time when Sam allegedly shook hands with his opponent, prompting the complaint that it wasn’t the last round. “It is for you,” Sam reportedly replied.
Moyle believes the story is true, but as he found it applied to four different opponents, he dispelled it.
The same applies to Langford entering the ring, measuring opponent Bill Tate for size and looking intently at the canvas prior to depositing him there. In some versions, he even draws a chalk outline of Tate’s body and lands him accurately inside it!
Yet none of the newspaper accounts of Langford’s many fighs with Tate reported the incident.
Disappointing as this is for true Langford admirers, the book covers his life and career in such carefully researched detail that it doesn’t matter. The most important fight reports are lengthy and well-written. Sam is portrayed as a fun-loving guy who wore expensive cloths, smoked large cigars and enjoyed “the fast life”. He spent any money he made with abandon.
Amazingly, the night before a fight with renowned “Fireman” Jim Flynn in 1908, Sam got drunk. He had to be put to bed by his old friend Charley “Kid” Bell, but the next day was as right as rain and knocked Flynn out in the first round.
Langford was prepared to travel to get fights, campaigning all over America, in England and Australia. Yet he never managed to challenge for a world title at any of the top four weights. He met many of the great black fighters of the time who received similar treatment: Joe Jeannette (on 14 occasions), Sam McVey (13), and Harry Wills (16), a total of 43 fights.
He continued in the ring too long and descriptions of his final ring days, when he fought virtually blind and “could only defend himself when he was in a clinch”, are sad.
Moyle spares us nothing of this, recounting how a blind Sam was knocked down by cars and the operations to try and save his sight.
The familiar ending of his life is covered in the chapter “The Forgotten Man”, New York Herald Tribune writer Al Laney discovered Langford living alone, blind and destitute, in a run-down New York hotel. Langford’s telling comment was: “Don’t nobody need feel sorry for old Sam. I had plenty of good times. I been all over the world. I fought maybe 600 fights and every one was a pleasure.”
Myle’s portrayal of Langford is rightly called Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion. Little film footage of Langford survives but his 1911 fight with Bill Lang in England can be viewed. The film is patchy and damaged but Langford’s undoubted ability still shines through.
Clips can be viewed on YouTube.
Moyle has done a formidable job. The hardback looks great, with a wonderfully clear photo of Langford-Lang on the front cover. Inside are many original Langford photographs never before published.
The book is thoroughly researched and detailed with an easy-going style that is a comfortable read despite the odd typo. Putting reference notes at the end of a chapter is a distraction but that is a minor criticism.
This book has not been published in Britain yet but can be obtained (and signed) from the author on the website: www.samlangford.com, for $35.”
George Zeleny says this tome dispels some of the myths and is well told and researched
The Sam Langford story is one of the most fascinating in boxing history. It’s fully of remarkable episodes, apocryphal stories, triumph, frustration, disaster and, ultimately recognition.
Clay Moyle has produced a prodigious book on Langford’s life that is a must for any boxing fan with even the slightest interest in those early times.
Langford boxed for 23 years from 1902 until 1925. Standing only 5 ft 7 in and rarely weighing above middleweight, he fought them all, including future world heavyweight legend Jack Johnson at age 20.
Boxing mythology has it that Johnson was given such a hard fight by Sam that Jack refused to fight him again. Moyle’s honest account of the battle tells a different story.
The young Langford was soundly beaten, dropped three times and battered and bloodied at the final bell. Certainly Johnson refused to defend his title against him once he had become champion, but that was more a matter of logistics and finance and the racial climate of the era in which they fought.
Many of the great stories about Langford passed down over the years are hard to substantiate and the author dispels two. There was the time when Sam allegedly shook hands with his opponent, prompting the complaint that it wasn’t the last round. “It is for you,” Sam reportedly replied.
Moyle believes the story is true, but as he found it applied to four different opponents, he dispelled it.
The same applies to Langford entering the ring, measuring opponent Bill Tate for size and looking intently at the canvas prior to depositing him there. In some versions, he even draws a chalk outline of Tate’s body and lands him accurately inside it!
Yet none of the newspaper accounts of Langford’s many fighs with Tate reported the incident.
Disappointing as this is for true Langford admirers, the book covers his life and career in such carefully researched detail that it doesn’t matter. The most important fight reports are lengthy and well-written. Sam is portrayed as a fun-loving guy who wore expensive cloths, smoked large cigars and enjoyed “the fast life”. He spent any money he made with abandon.
Amazingly, the night before a fight with renowned “Fireman” Jim Flynn in 1908, Sam got drunk. He had to be put to bed by his old friend Charley “Kid” Bell, but the next day was as right as rain and knocked Flynn out in the first round.
Langford was prepared to travel to get fights, campaigning all over America, in England and Australia. Yet he never managed to challenge for a world title at any of the top four weights. He met many of the great black fighters of the time who received similar treatment: Joe Jeannette (on 14 occasions), Sam McVey (13), and Harry Wills (16), a total of 43 fights.
He continued in the ring too long and descriptions of his final ring days, when he fought virtually blind and “could only defend himself when he was in a clinch”, are sad.
Moyle spares us nothing of this, recounting how a blind Sam was knocked down by cars and the operations to try and save his sight.
The familiar ending of his life is covered in the chapter “The Forgotten Man”, New York Herald Tribune writer Al Laney discovered Langford living alone, blind and destitute, in a run-down New York hotel. Langford’s telling comment was: “Don’t nobody need feel sorry for old Sam. I had plenty of good times. I been all over the world. I fought maybe 600 fights and every one was a pleasure.”
Myle’s portrayal of Langford is rightly called Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion. Little film footage of Langford survives but his 1911 fight with Bill Lang in England can be viewed. The film is patchy and damaged but Langford’s undoubted ability still shines through.
Clips can be viewed on YouTube.
Moyle has done a formidable job. The hardback looks great, with a wonderfully clear photo of Langford-Lang on the front cover. Inside are many original Langford photographs never before published.
The book is thoroughly researched and detailed with an easy-going style that is a comfortable read despite the odd typo. Putting reference notes at the end of a chapter is a distraction but that is a minor criticism.
This book has not been published in Britain yet but can be obtained (and signed) from the author on the website: www.samlangford.com, for $35.”
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