Author: Clay Moyle
Published: May 2008
ISBN: 978-1-934733-02-8
Pages: 429, (photographs: 98)
Size: 6" x 9" Type: Hardcover Price $29.95
Shipping: $4 in U.S., $5.05 internationally.
Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion
Standing no more than 5-feet 7-inches tall, Sam Langford was one of the 20th century’s greatest fighters. In 1951, the great featherweight champion Abe Attell was asked if Sugar Ray Robinson was the best of all time, either as a welterweight or middleweight: he named Stanley Ketchel as the greatest welterweight he had ever seen and said that, as for the middleweights, he would take Sam Langford, whom he considered the greatest of them all at that poundage.
Remarkably, the man Attell felt was the greatest middleweight fighter in history fought and defeated many of the leading heavyweight contenders of his day. Over time he matured physically and grew into a light heavyweight, then began fighting heavyweights on a regular basis, but he was almost always the much smaller of the two combatants.
Founding Ring magazine editor, Nat Fleischer, called Sam one of the hardest punchers of all time, and ranked the little man seventh among his personal all-time favorites. "Sam was endowed with everything. He possessed strength, agility, cleverness, hitting power, a good thinking cap and an abundance of courage. He feared no one. But he had the fatal gift of being too good, and that "is why he often had to give away weight in early days and make agreements with opponents. Many of those who agreed to fight him, especially of his own race,wanted an assurance that he would be merciful or insisted on a bout of not more than six rounds."
Other leading sportswriters of that era had even higher opinions of Sam. Hype Igoe, well known boxing writer of the New York Journal proclaimed Sam the greatest fighter, pound for pound, who ever lived. Joe
At the time of Sam's induction into the Boxing Hall of Fame (October, 1955) he was the only non-champion accorded the honor. Many ring experts considered Sam the greatest pound for pound fighter in the history of boxing. Under different circumstances he might have been a champion at five different weights: lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight,and heavyweight.
Blind and penniless at the end of his life, Sam lived quietly in a private nursing home. But when one visitor expressed sympathy for his circumstances, Sam replied, "Don't nobody need to 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!"
Praise for Sam Langford, Clay Moyle's biography of the boxing legend:
"Sam Langford was, indeed, an 'uncrowned champion' - one of the greatest pound-for-pound pugilists ever to step through the ropes. The only reason Langford never held a world title was that no champion gave him a chance to fight for the crown, even though Sam was eminently qualified. This book gives Langford the recognition he has deserved for such a long time. Moyle's epic chronicle of Langford's life in and out of the rind redresses the fighter's slide into obscurity during the half-century since his death. The author deftly balances the triumphs and tragedies of this extraordinary man's career. This book is a must-read, from the opening bell to the last."
--Charles R. Saunders, Author of Sweat and Soul: The Saga of Black Boxers from the
"With his richly detailed new biography, Clay Moyle has restored the indomitable Sam Langford to his rightful place in history of American sports - and demonstrates along the way that Jack Johnson was right when he called Langford 'the toughest little son of a bitch that ever lived'."
--Geoffrey C. Ward, Author of Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
“Much of Clay Moyle’s fine, new book, Sam Langford: Boxing’s Greatest Uncrowned Champion, 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.”
-- Don Stradley, The Ring – Fall 2008
“There is much to commend about this work: the author’s efficient sourcing of his references; his dedicated zeal in collecting and arrange a vast array of varied and interesting photography of Langford – many of which have not before been in the public domain – and his objectivity in highlighting those anecdotes and factual disputes of which a consultation of the records cannot presently provide a definitive resolution. All of them are hallmarks of his punctilious attention to detail in what no doubt will remain the definitive biography of Sam Langford for a long time to come.”
-- Adeyinka Makinde, Author of Dick Tiger: The Life and Times of a Boxing Immortal
Comments from Various Fighters:
“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
“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
“The greatest hitter of them all, bar none, was Sam Langford.” -- Harry Wills
“Langford was the greatest fighter who ever lived. Sam would have been champion any time Johnson had given him a fight. And Johnson knew it better than anybody. Man! How that baby could hit. Nobody else could hit like that. Well, maybe Joe Louis could, but don’t forgot that Sam only weighed about 160 pounds. Louis was about 195.”-- Joe Jeannette
“I’d pick him (Langford) to knock out Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey and Rocky Marciano. When he was not under wraps, he was a ring marvel.” -- Frank Erne
“Who’s the best heavyweight I ever saw? That’s an easy one. Sam Langford and nobody ever came close to being as good as he was at this peak. Why, old Sam could do everything. He could punch from any position and hit hard too. He was a master boxer, difficult to hit, but if you did land you might just as well try to make an impression upon the floor of the Garden. He would take all the heart out of you and then give you a fine pasting. He ruined me. I was all through after that last fight with Langford in
About the Author:
Clay Moyle is a member of the International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO), created in 1982 for the purpose of establishing an accurate history of boxing and compiling complete and accurate boxing records. He is also a passionate collector of boxing books with over 3,000 titles in his personal collection, many dating back to the 1800’s.
He has a personal website from which he sells boxing books, autographs, programs, and other forms of boxing memorabilia: Prizefightingbooks.com
He lives in