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."
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.”
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
T.K. Stewart On Boxing
About the Author
T.K. Stewart
An award winning boxing writer, his work has appeared in numerous boxing publications and on the Internet over the past decade. His writing currently appears on maxboxing, boxingscene and FOX Sports Web-sites. Mr. Stewart has won the prestigous Barney Award bestowed by the Boxing Writers Association of America on multiple occasions. Tom resides in the Maine countryside with his wife Rebecca. View my complete profile
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
The Uncrowned Champion of Books
A month or so or go, I clicked on an e-mail from a gentleman by the name of Clay Moyle who was writing to me from Washington state. Mr. Moyle said he had written a book on an old-time fighter and had entitled it Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion (Bennett & Hastings Publishing, LLC, 430 pages) and he was wondering if he were to send me copy of the book, whether I would be interested in reading it and reviewing it.Being in the boxing business as I am, this sort of request comes my way from time-to-time. However, more often that not, the book that I end up receiving in the mail is sometimes a letdown and a disappointment.
Well, there is no disappointment with Clay Moyle’s work of art on Sam Langford. Mr. Moyle has created a masterpiece with his exquisitely researched, beautifully crafted and perfectly detailed work.Moyle has completely chronicled the life and career of Sam Langford from his birth in Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1886 to his travels around the world as a prizefighter to his life after boxing to the period leading up to his passing in 1956.
Moyle was able to recreate Langford and he takes the reader back in time to the period of Langford’s boxing career that lasted from 1902-1926. The author transports the reader around the world with Sam on a virtual fight-by-fight journey that stretches from Manchester, New Hampshire to Paris, France to Sydney, Australia to Mexico City and all points in between.The author leaves no stone unturned as tells the story of Langford, who toiled away for years in the fight game while never receiving a justly deserved shot at any world boxing title.
Langford was an all-time great who would eventually be inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame, although he never received the chance to win a world title because he was a victim of his times - and his skin color. Many of the white champions of the time simply refused to face Langford. And Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world, and the champion for much of Langford’s career, would also not give him a well-earned shot at the championship. What Langford was left with, then, was a career where he barnstormed the United States in search of opposition and recognition. When he beat everyone that would face him in the United States he went to Europe. When he conquered Europe he went to Australia. When he cleaned out the competition on that continent he eventually would become the heavyweight champion of Mexico where he closed out the remaining years of his illustrious and entertaining career.
In turning the pages, it’s as though you are there in the ring with Sam as he fights names of the times such as “Fireman” Jim Flynn, William “Iron” Hague, Dan “Porky” Flynn and Ed “Gunboat” Smith. Moyle even goes into detail, in some instances, about the weather on the nights of fights as well the colors of the fighters’ robes and trunks. Moyle drew upon a plethora of sources to help him uncover Langford’s story which included speaking with Langford’s relatives and acquaintances and scouring the pages of hundreds of newspapers, magazines, book s and journals for the most minute details about Langford’s life and legend. The book is filled with many never before seen photographs as well as a complete accounting of Langford’s boxing career.The entire process allows the reader a behind the scenes glimpse into Langford’s personal life, family affairs and his kind, generous, happy-go lucky personality and comedic, quick-witted sense of humor.
In what some may perceive to be a tragic story of a man being denied the very thing he devoted his life’s effort to – a title shot - the book, upon further reflection, leaves the reader with a warm feeling of having gotten to know Sam Langford, “The Boston Tar Baby.” And despite Langford’s frustrations at having never received a title shot, he did not become a bitter man. Even though he would eventually wind up with little financial resources at the conclusion of his boxing career, Moyle reveals that Langford was a man not necessarily concerned with monetary rewards. For Langford, the simple things that life ultimately gave him, brought him the most satisfaction.Just like Clay Moyle’s remarkable tale of Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion.
To purchase Mr. Moyle's book, visit:www.prizefightingbooks.com www.samlangford.com www.amazon.com
November 2008
About the Author
T.K. Stewart
An award winning boxing writer, his work has appeared in numerous boxing publications and on the Internet over the past decade. His writing currently appears on maxboxing, boxingscene and FOX Sports Web-sites. Mr. Stewart has won the prestigous Barney Award bestowed by the Boxing Writers Association of America on multiple occasions. Tom resides in the Maine countryside with his wife Rebecca. View my complete profile
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
The Uncrowned Champion of Books
A month or so or go, I clicked on an e-mail from a gentleman by the name of Clay Moyle who was writing to me from Washington state. Mr. Moyle said he had written a book on an old-time fighter and had entitled it Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion (Bennett & Hastings Publishing, LLC, 430 pages) and he was wondering if he were to send me copy of the book, whether I would be interested in reading it and reviewing it.Being in the boxing business as I am, this sort of request comes my way from time-to-time. However, more often that not, the book that I end up receiving in the mail is sometimes a letdown and a disappointment.
Well, there is no disappointment with Clay Moyle’s work of art on Sam Langford. Mr. Moyle has created a masterpiece with his exquisitely researched, beautifully crafted and perfectly detailed work.Moyle has completely chronicled the life and career of Sam Langford from his birth in Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1886 to his travels around the world as a prizefighter to his life after boxing to the period leading up to his passing in 1956.
Moyle was able to recreate Langford and he takes the reader back in time to the period of Langford’s boxing career that lasted from 1902-1926. The author transports the reader around the world with Sam on a virtual fight-by-fight journey that stretches from Manchester, New Hampshire to Paris, France to Sydney, Australia to Mexico City and all points in between.The author leaves no stone unturned as tells the story of Langford, who toiled away for years in the fight game while never receiving a justly deserved shot at any world boxing title.
Langford was an all-time great who would eventually be inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame, although he never received the chance to win a world title because he was a victim of his times - and his skin color. Many of the white champions of the time simply refused to face Langford. And Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world, and the champion for much of Langford’s career, would also not give him a well-earned shot at the championship. What Langford was left with, then, was a career where he barnstormed the United States in search of opposition and recognition. When he beat everyone that would face him in the United States he went to Europe. When he conquered Europe he went to Australia. When he cleaned out the competition on that continent he eventually would become the heavyweight champion of Mexico where he closed out the remaining years of his illustrious and entertaining career.
In turning the pages, it’s as though you are there in the ring with Sam as he fights names of the times such as “Fireman” Jim Flynn, William “Iron” Hague, Dan “Porky” Flynn and Ed “Gunboat” Smith. Moyle even goes into detail, in some instances, about the weather on the nights of fights as well the colors of the fighters’ robes and trunks. Moyle drew upon a plethora of sources to help him uncover Langford’s story which included speaking with Langford’s relatives and acquaintances and scouring the pages of hundreds of newspapers, magazines, book s and journals for the most minute details about Langford’s life and legend. The book is filled with many never before seen photographs as well as a complete accounting of Langford’s boxing career.The entire process allows the reader a behind the scenes glimpse into Langford’s personal life, family affairs and his kind, generous, happy-go lucky personality and comedic, quick-witted sense of humor.
In what some may perceive to be a tragic story of a man being denied the very thing he devoted his life’s effort to – a title shot - the book, upon further reflection, leaves the reader with a warm feeling of having gotten to know Sam Langford, “The Boston Tar Baby.” And despite Langford’s frustrations at having never received a title shot, he did not become a bitter man. Even though he would eventually wind up with little financial resources at the conclusion of his boxing career, Moyle reveals that Langford was a man not necessarily concerned with monetary rewards. For Langford, the simple things that life ultimately gave him, brought him the most satisfaction.Just like Clay Moyle’s remarkable tale of Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion.
To purchase Mr. Moyle's book, visit:www.prizefightingbooks.com www.samlangford.com www.amazon.com
November 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Digby Courier review of Sam Langford book
Boxing Historian Chronicles Career of Sam Langfordby Jeanne Whithead/Digby Courier (Canada) October 23, 2008
"In 1903 at age 17, Sam Langford was a professional boxer, earning purses of hundreds of dollars. When not in the ring, he strolled the streets of Boston wearing fancy clothes and diamonds. Not bad for a boy from the Maritimes, who five years earlier was earning five dollars a month in the woods of Nova Scotia.
Boxing historian Clay Moyle chronicles Langford's career in his 400-page book 'Sam Langford, Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion'.
Nova Scotians will be pleased that the story begins at the beginning - with Langford's birth in Weymouth Falls in 1886. Moyle follows the lad as he runs away from home at age 12 to Digby, then to Grand Manan and on to Cambridge, Mass., as a 15-year old.
After being fired from his job at Cambridge brickyard for fighting during work hours, Langford moved to Boston where he was 'discovered' by flight club owner, Joe Woodman.
Moyle's history is a detailed account of Langford's career as a professional boxer.
Among the highlights: in 1903, Langford defeated lightweight champion, Joe Gans in a 15-round decision. Weighing in at 136 pounds, Langford was four and a half pounds heavier than Gans, and was denied the lightweight title because the lightweight limit was 135 pounds.
Langford was always eager to improve his abilities and he didn't hesitate to ask his opponents for tips that would make him an even better boxer. He took their advice to hear, and progressed from being an untrained 'natural' to being one of the most skilled boxers in the world.
By age 21, Sam Langford, a middleweight, had gone the distance ith highly regarded heavyweight Jack Johnson, and though promoters were keenly interested in having him fight out of their clubs, the best fighters in America steadfastly avoided him.
A married man with expensive tastes, Langford did the only reasonable thing. He sought matches abroad and in 1907 created a sensation in England, returning home $4,600 richer less than three months later. In the years that followed, he also fought in Australia, France, Canada and Mexico.
Even for those who may not be enamored with the boxing world, the Sam Langford book is a pleasurable read. This is because Moyle is a skilled writer - and because we all love stories of little guys who overcome obstacles to achieve their dreams.
A historian, Moyle includes just the fact that he was able to unearth and verify. This means that the book is lacking details of Langford's personal life. That would have made the book more satisfying for the average reader."
"In 1903 at age 17, Sam Langford was a professional boxer, earning purses of hundreds of dollars. When not in the ring, he strolled the streets of Boston wearing fancy clothes and diamonds. Not bad for a boy from the Maritimes, who five years earlier was earning five dollars a month in the woods of Nova Scotia.
Boxing historian Clay Moyle chronicles Langford's career in his 400-page book 'Sam Langford, Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion'.
Nova Scotians will be pleased that the story begins at the beginning - with Langford's birth in Weymouth Falls in 1886. Moyle follows the lad as he runs away from home at age 12 to Digby, then to Grand Manan and on to Cambridge, Mass., as a 15-year old.
After being fired from his job at Cambridge brickyard for fighting during work hours, Langford moved to Boston where he was 'discovered' by flight club owner, Joe Woodman.
Moyle's history is a detailed account of Langford's career as a professional boxer.
Among the highlights: in 1903, Langford defeated lightweight champion, Joe Gans in a 15-round decision. Weighing in at 136 pounds, Langford was four and a half pounds heavier than Gans, and was denied the lightweight title because the lightweight limit was 135 pounds.
Langford was always eager to improve his abilities and he didn't hesitate to ask his opponents for tips that would make him an even better boxer. He took their advice to hear, and progressed from being an untrained 'natural' to being one of the most skilled boxers in the world.
By age 21, Sam Langford, a middleweight, had gone the distance ith highly regarded heavyweight Jack Johnson, and though promoters were keenly interested in having him fight out of their clubs, the best fighters in America steadfastly avoided him.
A married man with expensive tastes, Langford did the only reasonable thing. He sought matches abroad and in 1907 created a sensation in England, returning home $4,600 richer less than three months later. In the years that followed, he also fought in Australia, France, Canada and Mexico.
Even for those who may not be enamored with the boxing world, the Sam Langford book is a pleasurable read. This is because Moyle is a skilled writer - and because we all love stories of little guys who overcome obstacles to achieve their dreams.
A historian, Moyle includes just the fact that he was able to unearth and verify. This means that the book is lacking details of Langford's personal life. That would have made the book more satisfying for the average reader."
Monday, September 22, 2008
Dublin Herald - Sept. 20, 2008 by Pat Myler
BOXING COLOUR BAR CRUELY DENIED LANGFORD HIS JUST REWARD
NOWHERE in the long list of world champions will you find the name of Sam Langford -- and that's nothing short of criminal.
The title of Clay Moyle's long overdue biography, Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion, says it all.
If justice had been done, the Boston Tar Baby would have won a world title at any weight from lightweight to heavyweight, probably several, but he never got the chance.
One of Sam's problems was that he was a black man in an era of blatant racism in boxing. The other was that he was too good.
He beat lightweight king, Joe Gans, held welterweight champion Joe Walcott to a draw, and took heavyweight legend Jack Johnson the distance in a hard-fought 15 rounder, but they were all non-title fights.
So prevalent was the 'colour-bar that gifted black fighters like himself, Sam McVea, Joe Jeannette and Harry Wills were forced to fight each other over and over again in order to stay active.
The great Jack Dempsey admitted: "There was one man, smaller than me, I wouldn't fight because I knew he would flatten me. I was afraid of Sam Langford."
In a career spanning 23 years, the only title Langford managed to acquire was the relatively meaningless heavyweight championship of Mexico, and by then he was heading for 40 and nearly blind.
American Moyle, a dedicated and respected historian, has done the sport a genuine service with his thoroughly researched, loving written account of a remarkable man and fighter. To find out how to purchase a copy ($35 including postage (to the U.K.) check it out at www.samlangford.com
BOXING COLOUR BAR CRUELY DENIED LANGFORD HIS JUST REWARD
NOWHERE in the long list of world champions will you find the name of Sam Langford -- and that's nothing short of criminal.
The title of Clay Moyle's long overdue biography, Sam Langford: Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion, says it all.
If justice had been done, the Boston Tar Baby would have won a world title at any weight from lightweight to heavyweight, probably several, but he never got the chance.
One of Sam's problems was that he was a black man in an era of blatant racism in boxing. The other was that he was too good.
He beat lightweight king, Joe Gans, held welterweight champion Joe Walcott to a draw, and took heavyweight legend Jack Johnson the distance in a hard-fought 15 rounder, but they were all non-title fights.
So prevalent was the 'colour-bar that gifted black fighters like himself, Sam McVea, Joe Jeannette and Harry Wills were forced to fight each other over and over again in order to stay active.
The great Jack Dempsey admitted: "There was one man, smaller than me, I wouldn't fight because I knew he would flatten me. I was afraid of Sam Langford."
In a career spanning 23 years, the only title Langford managed to acquire was the relatively meaningless heavyweight championship of Mexico, and by then he was heading for 40 and nearly blind.
American Moyle, a dedicated and respected historian, has done the sport a genuine service with his thoroughly researched, loving written account of a remarkable man and fighter. To find out how to purchase a copy ($35 including postage (to the U.K.) check it out at www.samlangford.com
Monday, September 8, 2008
Price break on international orders
As of September 8th, international orders placed on www.samlangford.com will receive a price break on shipping. Int'l shipping charges for orders placed on that website will now only cost $5.05, bringing the total purchase cost to $35.00. This applies only to orders placed via that website.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Review from September 2008 issue of 'Boxing Monthly':
"Boxing Monthly – September 2008
Reviews by John Exshaw
Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion by Clay Moyle, Bennett & Hastings Publishing
More than a bit-part player. Langford was feared and avoided by the leading fighters of his day, including the legendary Johnson. B
In 1917, when heavyweight prospect Fred Fulton found himself matched with an ageing but still dangerous Sam Langford, he sensibly decided to seek advice on how best to defeat the legendary “Boston Tar Baby” from Harry Wills, a fighter who had suffered a couple of early-career losses to Langford but who was no winning their bouts on a regular basis. “The best way,” Wills informed him, “is to take a club and when he ain’t looking just bust him on the head, and when he turns around with ever so much surprise, just bust him again and knock him dead.” “And then?” enquired Fulton. “Nothing,” replied Wills, “only don’t miss the second shot.”
While this may not have been quite the advice Fulton was hoping for, it nicely illustrates the high regard in which the murderous-punching Langford was held by his peers, among whom he seems to have been both liked and feared in equal measure. Long recognized as one of the great fighters, Langford has finally received his literary due in Clay Moyle’s admirable biography, Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion (Bennett & Hastings Publishing, $29.95), which not only succeeds in recounting Langford’s remarkable ring exploits, but also in rescuing him from his recent position as little more than an extra in the Jack Johnson story.
Over the years, of course, one has learned to be wary of accepting at face value claims of supherhuman powers supposedly possessed by fighters in the early days of gloved boxing, claims that often seem to have more to do with myth-making and nostalgia than with any notion of objectivity, to say nothing of possibility. In Langford’s case, however, the evidence is persuasive, not least because so much of it is based on the testimony of his opponents and fellow professionals, rather than that of contemporary newspaper reporters more interested in fiction than fact.
As for his record, it too speaks for itself. In 1903, 20 months after turning professional, Langford decisioned world lightweight champion, Joe Gans, in a non-title bout, and the following year, was considered unlucky when his bout against welterweight champion, Joe Walcott, was ruled a draw. In 1909 and 1910, he twice stopped Walcott’s successor, the “Dixie Kid”, in addition to boxing a no-decision draw with middleweight champ, Stanley Ketchel. At the same time, Langford, who stood only 5 ft 6 ½ inches in height and whose best fighting weight was about 12 stone, also turned his attention to the heavy mob, regularly flattening opponents who outweighed him by as much as two stone. Not for nothing did Jack Johnson remark that “Sam Langford was the toughest little son of a bitch that ever lived.”
Much as been made of the fact that Langford, Joe Jeannette, Sam McVea, (and, later, Harry Wills) were forced into endless round-robin of match-ups between themselves due to the unwillingness – based on either fear, prejudice, or both – of white fighters to face them, but Mr. Moyle’s research reveals a rather more complex picture. After all, it was Jack Johnson himself who denied Langford & Co. a shot at the title, while, with regard to the “white hopes”, there seems nothing particularly remarkable in the fact that then, as now, managers would choose to protect their charges in the hope of a lucrative title shot. Not that there was any doubt in people’s minds about the outcome of any such bouts; as James J. Jeffries put it, “How long do you suppose these fellows would last with Sam Langford? Why, he would just name the round he would knock them out in.” Attempts, particularly by the Australian promoter, Hugh D. McIntosh, to make a Johnson-Langford match, were continually rejected by Johnson who, as Joe Jeannette observed, “beat Sam once, when Sam was only a middleweight, but…wouldn’t have anything to do with him when Sam got bigger and better.”
And so Langford was doomed to engage in a never-ending dance with the same partners (including the suicidally brave – or stupid – white heavyweight, Jim Barry, who, despite 11 beatings from Langford, never stopped trying) until he could dance no more. Though blind and broke, Langford continued to be held in high esteem, living quietly but seemingly contentedly until 1958. Sam Langford, which contains 98 photographs and a ring record, is, it needs hardly be said, an essential requirement for any self-respecting pugilist-specialist-reader, and can be ordered through amazon.com or from www.prizefightingbooks.com. A revised edition, including an index (and hopefully with better punctuation), is apparently in the offing.” (NOTE: The book already includes an index)
"Boxing Monthly – September 2008
Reviews by John Exshaw
Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion by Clay Moyle, Bennett & Hastings Publishing
More than a bit-part player. Langford was feared and avoided by the leading fighters of his day, including the legendary Johnson. B
In 1917, when heavyweight prospect Fred Fulton found himself matched with an ageing but still dangerous Sam Langford, he sensibly decided to seek advice on how best to defeat the legendary “Boston Tar Baby” from Harry Wills, a fighter who had suffered a couple of early-career losses to Langford but who was no winning their bouts on a regular basis. “The best way,” Wills informed him, “is to take a club and when he ain’t looking just bust him on the head, and when he turns around with ever so much surprise, just bust him again and knock him dead.” “And then?” enquired Fulton. “Nothing,” replied Wills, “only don’t miss the second shot.”
While this may not have been quite the advice Fulton was hoping for, it nicely illustrates the high regard in which the murderous-punching Langford was held by his peers, among whom he seems to have been both liked and feared in equal measure. Long recognized as one of the great fighters, Langford has finally received his literary due in Clay Moyle’s admirable biography, Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion (Bennett & Hastings Publishing, $29.95), which not only succeeds in recounting Langford’s remarkable ring exploits, but also in rescuing him from his recent position as little more than an extra in the Jack Johnson story.
Over the years, of course, one has learned to be wary of accepting at face value claims of supherhuman powers supposedly possessed by fighters in the early days of gloved boxing, claims that often seem to have more to do with myth-making and nostalgia than with any notion of objectivity, to say nothing of possibility. In Langford’s case, however, the evidence is persuasive, not least because so much of it is based on the testimony of his opponents and fellow professionals, rather than that of contemporary newspaper reporters more interested in fiction than fact.
As for his record, it too speaks for itself. In 1903, 20 months after turning professional, Langford decisioned world lightweight champion, Joe Gans, in a non-title bout, and the following year, was considered unlucky when his bout against welterweight champion, Joe Walcott, was ruled a draw. In 1909 and 1910, he twice stopped Walcott’s successor, the “Dixie Kid”, in addition to boxing a no-decision draw with middleweight champ, Stanley Ketchel. At the same time, Langford, who stood only 5 ft 6 ½ inches in height and whose best fighting weight was about 12 stone, also turned his attention to the heavy mob, regularly flattening opponents who outweighed him by as much as two stone. Not for nothing did Jack Johnson remark that “Sam Langford was the toughest little son of a bitch that ever lived.”
Much as been made of the fact that Langford, Joe Jeannette, Sam McVea, (and, later, Harry Wills) were forced into endless round-robin of match-ups between themselves due to the unwillingness – based on either fear, prejudice, or both – of white fighters to face them, but Mr. Moyle’s research reveals a rather more complex picture. After all, it was Jack Johnson himself who denied Langford & Co. a shot at the title, while, with regard to the “white hopes”, there seems nothing particularly remarkable in the fact that then, as now, managers would choose to protect their charges in the hope of a lucrative title shot. Not that there was any doubt in people’s minds about the outcome of any such bouts; as James J. Jeffries put it, “How long do you suppose these fellows would last with Sam Langford? Why, he would just name the round he would knock them out in.” Attempts, particularly by the Australian promoter, Hugh D. McIntosh, to make a Johnson-Langford match, were continually rejected by Johnson who, as Joe Jeannette observed, “beat Sam once, when Sam was only a middleweight, but…wouldn’t have anything to do with him when Sam got bigger and better.”
And so Langford was doomed to engage in a never-ending dance with the same partners (including the suicidally brave – or stupid – white heavyweight, Jim Barry, who, despite 11 beatings from Langford, never stopped trying) until he could dance no more. Though blind and broke, Langford continued to be held in high esteem, living quietly but seemingly contentedly until 1958. Sam Langford, which contains 98 photographs and a ring record, is, it needs hardly be said, an essential requirement for any self-respecting pugilist-specialist-reader, and can be ordered through amazon.com or from www.prizefightingbooks.com. A revised edition, including an index (and hopefully with better punctuation), is apparently in the offing.” (NOTE: The book already includes an index)
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Book photograph discrepancies
There are a few discrepancies pertaining to photographs that are in need of explanation. First on page 336 there is a photo of Sam as a younger man. The caption identifies the picture as being from 1912 in Australia. This is clearly in error as he is much younger. The caption will be revised to say "Undated" and moved to an early grouping of photos in a 2nd printing.
On page 172 there are two photographs of Sam fighting against Jim Barry. Both are identified as April 14, 1910, but Barry is clearly wearing different color and lengths of shorts in the two photos, so one is obviously dated incorrectly. After further investigation I have determined it is the photo on the bottom that is incorrect. That one will be revised to say "undated" for a 2nd printing.
On page 399 there is a photo of Sam's headstone that indicates he was born in 1883. On the first page of the opening chapter I indicate that he was born on March 4th of 1886. The reasons I settled on 3/4/1886 as his correct birthdate include the following:
His manager, Joe Woodman, said that at one point he investigated the issue himself and located Sam's birth certificate and that it confirmed 3/4/1886 as the correct date.
In a series of articles published in 1924 Sam identifies 3/4/1886 as his date of birth. (Source: Halifax Herald, August 12, 1924)
Throughout the book the reader will find Sam making references to his age at different stages of his career and those coincide with a birth year of 1886.
I have a copy of an 1891 census that identifies Sam as being 6 years of age at that time. (Now that could also point to 1885 as a birthdate, but in any case it certainly confirms 1886 more than 1883.
I have another document titled 'Descendants of Charles Langford' that gives a birthdate of March 6, 1886 for Sam.
Another document titled 'Children of Robert Langford and Charlotte Robert' lists their children and gives March 6, 1886 as Sam's birthdate.
On page 172 there are two photographs of Sam fighting against Jim Barry. Both are identified as April 14, 1910, but Barry is clearly wearing different color and lengths of shorts in the two photos, so one is obviously dated incorrectly. After further investigation I have determined it is the photo on the bottom that is incorrect. That one will be revised to say "undated" for a 2nd printing.
On page 399 there is a photo of Sam's headstone that indicates he was born in 1883. On the first page of the opening chapter I indicate that he was born on March 4th of 1886. The reasons I settled on 3/4/1886 as his correct birthdate include the following:
His manager, Joe Woodman, said that at one point he investigated the issue himself and located Sam's birth certificate and that it confirmed 3/4/1886 as the correct date.
In a series of articles published in 1924 Sam identifies 3/4/1886 as his date of birth. (Source: Halifax Herald, August 12, 1924)
Throughout the book the reader will find Sam making references to his age at different stages of his career and those coincide with a birth year of 1886.
I have a copy of an 1891 census that identifies Sam as being 6 years of age at that time. (Now that could also point to 1885 as a birthdate, but in any case it certainly confirms 1886 more than 1883.
I have another document titled 'Descendants of Charles Langford' that gives a birthdate of March 6, 1886 for Sam.
Another document titled 'Children of Robert Langford and Charlotte Robert' lists their children and gives March 6, 1886 as Sam's birthdate.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Sept. 1904 Welterweight Title Fight with Joe Walcott
‘The Union’ newspaper account of the September 1904 Walcott-Langford welterweight title fight. Courtesy of NH State Library:
“LAKE FIGHT WAS A DRAW.
Walcott and Langford in Fifteen Found Mixup
They Weighed In At 142
Champion Was Outpointed by His Adversary – But Carried the Fighting to Langford – The Preliminary Was a Burlesque and Spotty Coyne. Gave a Tiresome Exhibition
One of the main sporting events of Labor day was pulled off at the Coliseum before upwards of 2,000 people, when Joe Walcott and Sam Langford fought fifteen rounds for championship honors. The fight ended in a draw, Langford outpointed the title holder from the start, ____ _____ the ____ Walcott was forced to carry the fighting to him. Owen Kenney officiated the bout, and his decision appeared to meet with general approval, although it was unquestionable a Langford (______?).
((Can’t make out much of the 2nd paragraph, which is about the preliminary bout))
Third paragraph:
I can’t make out the first three words of the first sentence, but after that it looks like it says: “was started on time” and then: “Walcott was the first to enter the ring. He was accompanied by “Honey” Melody, Peter Walker, Harry R_____?, and John (Breslin?), all of Boston. The champion wore an American flag about his belt. Langford was seconded by James Welsh, Ed Keevin, and B____ J_____ all of Boston.”
Fourth paragraph:
“Before calling time Referee Kenney announced that both men had weighed in at 142 pounds - Walcott appeared heavier – and would fight fifteen rounds for a decision, the fighters to protect themselves at all times and break on command of the referee.”
Fifth paragraph:
“The first round started in lively, although it was mostly sparring for an opening. Walcott appeared to be playing for the body and Langford for the head. In the second round Langford was in and out and all over the ring.
Walcott reached home with a good left swing to the jaw in the third and the fighting warmed up as the round progressed. Langford drove several stiff rights to the jaw toward the last of the round, and the bell sounded with the fighting in Langford’s favor.
Honors were about even in the fourth.
In the fifth, Walcott drove a left to Langford’s jaw. Langford returned the blow with a left to the jaw and the fighters mixed up. This was also Langford’s round.
The sixth was a general slam-bank contest, Langford driving left and right to jaw and body. The blows appeared to have little effect on the champion, however, and he kept chaffing Langford, a trick of his when his opponent is getting in some telling blows.
Walcott forced the fighting continuously in the seventh.
In the eighth Walcott started in as if to end the bout then and there. As he would plant a stiff left on Langford’s ribs he would say: “I’ve got ‘im Billy, just wait, I’ve got ‘im.” Langford put a sudden stop to the chaffing, however, with a right hook to the jaw that sent the champion reeling. This he followed up with a couple of uppers cuts and a left drive to the jaw. The fighting in this was the fastest of any round.
The next four rounds as far as points were concerned were easily Langford’s, although in each he hung back and let Walcott force him.
In the thirteenth Walcott got an upper cut that made his teeth rattle and started him to bleeding at the mouth. He drove a vicious right swing to Langford’s jaw before the round ended.
Walcott came up the fresher of the two in the fourteenth and landed left and right on Langford’s wind and jaw. Langford drove a heavy right to the jaw, but the heavy body blows that he had been taking appeared to have winded him.
In the fifteenth and last round both men came up fresh. Walcott refused to shake hands and Langford went in to make him pay for it. This round was fast and furious, although neither lost his generalship. The bell sounded with both men on their feet and honors about even.
Referee Kenney’s decision of a draw was greeted with applause.
The management of the bout had made arrangements for a big crowd, erecting two extra stands capable of seating 1,000 people, although, many Boston sports came up, the attendance did not pan out as anticipated, the new stands only being about half (full?)”
“LAKE FIGHT WAS A DRAW.
Walcott and Langford in Fifteen Found Mixup
They Weighed In At 142
Champion Was Outpointed by His Adversary – But Carried the Fighting to Langford – The Preliminary Was a Burlesque and Spotty Coyne. Gave a Tiresome Exhibition
One of the main sporting events of Labor day was pulled off at the Coliseum before upwards of 2,000 people, when Joe Walcott and Sam Langford fought fifteen rounds for championship honors. The fight ended in a draw, Langford outpointed the title holder from the start, ____ _____ the ____ Walcott was forced to carry the fighting to him. Owen Kenney officiated the bout, and his decision appeared to meet with general approval, although it was unquestionable a Langford (______?).
((Can’t make out much of the 2nd paragraph, which is about the preliminary bout))
Third paragraph:
I can’t make out the first three words of the first sentence, but after that it looks like it says: “was started on time” and then: “Walcott was the first to enter the ring. He was accompanied by “Honey” Melody, Peter Walker, Harry R_____?, and John (Breslin?), all of Boston. The champion wore an American flag about his belt. Langford was seconded by James Welsh, Ed Keevin, and B____ J_____ all of Boston.”
Fourth paragraph:
“Before calling time Referee Kenney announced that both men had weighed in at 142 pounds - Walcott appeared heavier – and would fight fifteen rounds for a decision, the fighters to protect themselves at all times and break on command of the referee.”
Fifth paragraph:
“The first round started in lively, although it was mostly sparring for an opening. Walcott appeared to be playing for the body and Langford for the head. In the second round Langford was in and out and all over the ring.
Walcott reached home with a good left swing to the jaw in the third and the fighting warmed up as the round progressed. Langford drove several stiff rights to the jaw toward the last of the round, and the bell sounded with the fighting in Langford’s favor.
Honors were about even in the fourth.
In the fifth, Walcott drove a left to Langford’s jaw. Langford returned the blow with a left to the jaw and the fighters mixed up. This was also Langford’s round.
The sixth was a general slam-bank contest, Langford driving left and right to jaw and body. The blows appeared to have little effect on the champion, however, and he kept chaffing Langford, a trick of his when his opponent is getting in some telling blows.
Walcott forced the fighting continuously in the seventh.
In the eighth Walcott started in as if to end the bout then and there. As he would plant a stiff left on Langford’s ribs he would say: “I’ve got ‘im Billy, just wait, I’ve got ‘im.” Langford put a sudden stop to the chaffing, however, with a right hook to the jaw that sent the champion reeling. This he followed up with a couple of uppers cuts and a left drive to the jaw. The fighting in this was the fastest of any round.
The next four rounds as far as points were concerned were easily Langford’s, although in each he hung back and let Walcott force him.
In the thirteenth Walcott got an upper cut that made his teeth rattle and started him to bleeding at the mouth. He drove a vicious right swing to Langford’s jaw before the round ended.
Walcott came up the fresher of the two in the fourteenth and landed left and right on Langford’s wind and jaw. Langford drove a heavy right to the jaw, but the heavy body blows that he had been taking appeared to have winded him.
In the fifteenth and last round both men came up fresh. Walcott refused to shake hands and Langford went in to make him pay for it. This round was fast and furious, although neither lost his generalship. The bell sounded with both men on their feet and honors about even.
Referee Kenney’s decision of a draw was greeted with applause.
The management of the bout had made arrangements for a big crowd, erecting two extra stands capable of seating 1,000 people, although, many Boston sports came up, the attendance did not pan out as anticipated, the new stands only being about half (full?)”
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The Ring boxing magazine review of Langford book
The following review of 'Sam Langford, Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion' from the Fall 2008 issue of The Ring boxing magazine just hit the newstands on July 29th:
"Boxing Bookshelf
What sort of fighter could train on gin and pork chops, but was still good enough to beat the best lightweight of the day, draw with the best welterweight and middleweight of the day, beat one of the best light heavyweights of the day, and strike such fear among the heavyweights of the era that the champion would avoid him?
If you answered Sam Langford, give yourself a long, stinky cigar, the sort favored by Langford, and congratulate yourself. Langford beat Joe Gans, held Barbados Joe Walcott and Stanley Ketchel even, whipped Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, and got the best of most heavyweights during the Jack Johnson era. He fought Johnson too, Johnson won, but saw enough to know he didn't want a rematch.
Much of Clay Moyle's fine, new book, Sam Langford, Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion (Bennett & Hastings, 429 pages, hardcover, $29.95), pulls together many of the myths and facts about Langford, and makes his worldwide pursuit of Johnson into a chase equal to Captain Ahab's stalking of Moby Dick.
Langford's career seems to be the basis for many archetypes. Here we have the supremely talented black fighter who was stifled during the years of Jim Crow (denied even by Johnson, the black champion of the time); he fought beyond his prime, until his eyes were so bad that he had to feel his way along the ropes to find his corner between rounds; he ended up penniless and alone, occasionally struck down by passing automobiles because he couldn't see.
But Moyle, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, also reminds us that Langford had a large following in America, as well as in Europe and Mexico. As the book's many wonderful photographs show, Langford was every bit as colorful as Johnson. And for a cactus-stump of a man who disdained training, Langford was a marvelous fighting machine with a profound knowledge of the ring.
There will always be those who over-praise Langford, those who insist he wouldn't been 200-0 with 200 knockouts, if only he weren't handcuffed by the indignities of the era. While it's undoubtedly true that Langford carried some opponents and took a few dives, he also lost a lot of bouts due to his poor conditioning. Moyle follows the usual argument that when it appeared his shot at Johnson's title would never happen, Langford grew fat and lazy. Still, Moyle approaches the subject in an even-handed manner, and is never maudlin.
One wonders how boxing history might've changed if Langford, rather than Johnson, had been the first black fighter to win the heavyweight championship. Langford was certainly a more crowd-pleasing fighter, and if half the quotes attributed to him are true, he was better with the press. Moyle's book makes us think 1908 America might've enjoyed seeing Langford wear the crown. At the very least, Langford wouldn't have denied Johnson a title shot."
- Don Stradley
"Boxing Bookshelf
What sort of fighter could train on gin and pork chops, but was still good enough to beat the best lightweight of the day, draw with the best welterweight and middleweight of the day, beat one of the best light heavyweights of the day, and strike such fear among the heavyweights of the era that the champion would avoid him?
If you answered Sam Langford, give yourself a long, stinky cigar, the sort favored by Langford, and congratulate yourself. Langford beat Joe Gans, held Barbados Joe Walcott and Stanley Ketchel even, whipped Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, and got the best of most heavyweights during the Jack Johnson era. He fought Johnson too, Johnson won, but saw enough to know he didn't want a rematch.
Much of Clay Moyle's fine, new book, Sam Langford, Boxing's Greatest Uncrowned Champion (Bennett & Hastings, 429 pages, hardcover, $29.95), pulls together many of the myths and facts about Langford, and makes his worldwide pursuit of Johnson into a chase equal to Captain Ahab's stalking of Moby Dick.
Langford's career seems to be the basis for many archetypes. Here we have the supremely talented black fighter who was stifled during the years of Jim Crow (denied even by Johnson, the black champion of the time); he fought beyond his prime, until his eyes were so bad that he had to feel his way along the ropes to find his corner between rounds; he ended up penniless and alone, occasionally struck down by passing automobiles because he couldn't see.
But Moyle, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, also reminds us that Langford had a large following in America, as well as in Europe and Mexico. As the book's many wonderful photographs show, Langford was every bit as colorful as Johnson. And for a cactus-stump of a man who disdained training, Langford was a marvelous fighting machine with a profound knowledge of the ring.
There will always be those who over-praise Langford, those who insist he wouldn't been 200-0 with 200 knockouts, if only he weren't handcuffed by the indignities of the era. While it's undoubtedly true that Langford carried some opponents and took a few dives, he also lost a lot of bouts due to his poor conditioning. Moyle follows the usual argument that when it appeared his shot at Johnson's title would never happen, Langford grew fat and lazy. Still, Moyle approaches the subject in an even-handed manner, and is never maudlin.
One wonders how boxing history might've changed if Langford, rather than Johnson, had been the first black fighter to win the heavyweight championship. Langford was certainly a more crowd-pleasing fighter, and if half the quotes attributed to him are true, he was better with the press. Moyle's book makes us think 1908 America might've enjoyed seeing Langford wear the crown. At the very least, Langford wouldn't have denied Johnson a title shot."
- Don Stradley
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Link to July 23rd interview with TalkinBoxing
Here’s a link to a radio interview I did yesterday concerning the Sam Langford book with a radio show (TalkinBoxing) out of Poughkeepsie, N.Y. I come in at the 58 minute mark of the show. Near the bottom of the screen you can fast forward the arrow to skip thru to that point. It runs through to the 1:10:45 mark, or about 12-13 minutes overall: http://www.tpsradio.net/podcast/archives/1556
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
TalkinBoxing
I'll be interviewed this coming Wednesday, July 23rd, at 7:05 p.m. EST concerning the Sam Langford book on http://www.talkinboxing.com/
Monday, July 14, 2008
Some interesting comments & debates concerning Sam and his career, as well as many other great figthters of that era can be found in the forum on www.cyberboxingzone.com
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