Sam Langford Biography
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- Born March 4, 1883
He was denied a shot at many World Championships, due to the color bar and by the refusal of Jack Johnson, the first African-American World Heavyweight Champion, to fight him in a rematch. Langford was the World Colored Heavyweight Champion, a title vacated, by Johnson, after he won the World Championship, a record five times. Alongside this, Langford also defeated the reigning Lightweight Champion Joe Gans, the first African-American World Champion in boxing history and widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, in a non-title bout. Many boxing aficionados consider Langford to be the greatest boxer not to win a world title. BoxRec ranks him as the 3rd greatest heavyweight boxer of all-time, 9th greatest pound-for-pound boxer of all-time and the greatest Canadian boxer of all-time.\n', '
Langford was a boxer who fought greats from the lightweight division right up to the heavyweights, beating many champions in the process. However, he was never able to secure a world title for himself. Despite the fact Langford never received a chance to fight for Jack Johnson\'s heavyweight title, Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer rated Langford as one of the ten best heavyweights of all time. Renowned champion Jack Dempsey claimed that as a young boxer in 1916 he refused a fight with Langford. According to Dempsey: "I think Sam Langford was the greatest fighter we ever had."\n', '
Langford\'s most memorable fights were his numerous encounters against fellow black boxers Sam McVey, Battling Jim Johnson, Joe Jeanette and Harry Wills, who all experienced similar barriers in their fighting careers.\n', '
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