Name: Sam Langford Career Record: click Alias: Boston Tar Baby Nationality: Canadian Birthplace: Weymouth, Nova Scotia Born: 1883-03-04 Died: 1956-01-12 Age at Death: 72 Height: 5' 6� Reach: 72" Division: Heavyweight Manager: Joe Woodman He was a little man. He only Stood 5'6" yet he was known as "the giant killer." This fighter who beat the biggest and toughest of them all from lightweight to heavyweight. There was Joe Gans, Jack O'Brien, two World champions, and both went down under his blows. And yet the strange part of it is that this boxer, the hardest hitter in history never became a world's champion. And why? Because he was too good! This Is the story of Sam Langford, the Nova Scotia Tar Baby. Sam was born in Weymouth, a thriving lumber port In Southern Nova Scotia, on March 4th., 1886. During the American War of Independence, over 2000 negro slaves escaped from the plantations to join the British Army in New York City. And there they fought as soldiers in the battle of Harlem Heights. When the British evacuated New York by ship in 1783, they took negro soldiers along with them. Soon after, these negroes were settled in Nova Scotia in and around Halifax, Digby, Weymouth and Saint John. William Langford, Sam's great-grandfather, was among them. He was the son of a father, a short, stocky lumberjack who was recognized as the toughest and strongest log drawer an the Sissiboo River. Sam was one of many children in the Langford family who lived in an old shanty on the outskirts of Weymouth. His early life was hard. He had little schooling for at the age of eleven, he left home to work in Digby as ox-driver and log hauler, earning a dollar and a quarter a week with board. To visit his home In Weymouth, he had to Walk the thirty six miles there and back because he didn't have the 60 cents for train fare. At twelve he shipped as sailor on a tramp steamer. But soon after, the vessel was wrecked in a storm off the New Brunswick coast and the crew had to take to the lifeboats. At 14, short, loose-limbed and strong, he rode the freight cars and worked his way through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It was a tough life. He often met up with tramps and vagabonds who would pick a fight with the negro boy and Sam soon learned how to take care of himself. He crossed the border-into Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. One November morning he jumped off a freight train on the outskirts of Boston, with his only friend, a stray dog. He headed for the city and walked into a small drug store and asked if he could get some work as he hadn't eaten for two days. Joe Woodman, the owner, fed him and gave him a job as janitor in the boxing gymnasium which he operated as a sideline. Sam watched the professional boxers train and studied their styles. When some boxers ran short of a sparring partner Sam put on the gloves. This skinny youngster was belted around the ring, yet he always came back for more. Sam Langford, the little coloured boy who was soon to beat the world champions! In the evenings, he worked as a waiter in a nearby tavern. One night, a huge, heavy set dock hand came in, had a few drinks, and decided to leave without paying. As he neared the door, Sam jumped over the counter and asked him for the money. The man laughed and roughly shoved him aside. Sam went sprawling to the floor. He leapt up, tore Into the ruffian and buried his fist in his stomach. The big man crumpled in a heap. When Woodman heard about what bad happened, he realized that Sam had possibilities, and so he entered him in the city amateur boxing tournament. And Langford was crowned featherweight champion of Boston. That same year, at the early age of 15, he started on his professional boxing career, with Woodman as his manager. He trained hard, up at six every morning, running, chopping wood, lifting weights. boxing, boxing all the time. This exercise packed on twenty pounds of muscle, and at sixteen he weighed 140 at a height of 5'5''. From 16 to seventeen he was in 45 matches and he took them all except one, and that was lost by a close decision. Soon there was only one lightweight he hadn't defeated, and he was the world champion, Joe Gans. Gans, "the, old master," the greatest lightweight that ever donned a pair of gloves. On December 8th, 1903, Langford met Gans in a non-title match. Gans, the veteran, tail and finely muscled, confident of quick victory; Langford, young, short and chunky, uncertain of the outcome. The bell. Gans tore across the ring and caught Sam in his corner. A flurry of blows that drove Langford to the ropes. They clinched. Gans punched Langford in the mouth Sam smashed him back in the stomach. The champ brought up an uppercut that knocked Sam's head back. Sam was hanging on the ropes with Gans in on him trying for the knockout. The referee separated them. Toe to toe now, they ripped body punches at each other. Langford swayed under the attack and retreated. The bell. For four rounds Gans pounded the youngster, but round five. Sam threw a vicious right and followed up with one to the ribs. Gans was hurt Langford closed in, Gans was down, four, five, six , he staggered to his feet. Langford leaped in and rammed Gans on the ropes. The champ was tired out. For the next eleven rounds Gans had to use every trick he knew to keep from being knocked out. Sam Langford, the seventeen year old wonder boy, had vanquished the greatest lightweight in the game. Langford was built for fighting. He had a small waist, huge chest, and arms that reached below his knees. In fact, his arm span was over six feet. He Was getting heavier and more powerful. As a welterweight he soon disposed of all the best boxers in that class. And then he got his chance at the title. September 5,1904, and he was in the ring with Joe Walcott. The welterweight champion of the world. Walcott was considered the greatest welterweight of any age, stood only 5' 1" and weighed 145. Being built like a wrestler, he looked as if nothing could knock him down. The referee stood back. The fight was on. Langford set a whirlwind pace and slugged away at Walcott's elusive, weaving body. Walcott was on the defensive. But In round eight, Walcott came out of his shell and for four rounds beat a tattoo of blows on Langford. The fourteenth round Sam leaped out of his chair and before Walcott could even cover up, connected with a right hand swing and two uppercuts. Walcott's face was marked with blood. The champion saw that the title was slipping from his grasp. He forgot all about style and just waded in. Sam stood up to him and returned blow for blow. The final bell rang and they were still at It. The referee had in break them apart. The judge's decision, a draw! The spectators booed and hollered and some even climbed into the ring to protest. "Langford is the champion!" they shouted. And that was the opinion of the newspapermen. The sports editor of the New York Illustrated News wrote, "My personal opinion is that Langford was entitled to the verdict, and should have been awarded the world's title." It was "easy come, easy go" with Sam when it came to money, jovial, soft spoken, he gave most of his earnings away. All he cared about was boxing, not for its brutality, but because it was a contest of brain, skill and condition. At nineteen he squared off with (6 foot-190 lbs) Joe Jeanette one of the greatest heavyweights of the day. Sam battered him to a pulp. Speed, strength, agility and the courage to take all that the ponderous heavyweights could dish out, and give more in return made him the most feared man in the ring. He was small and light, but it was quality and not quantity. that counted. It was he who smashed the old theory that "a good big man is better than a good little man". His boxing style varied and differed with each opponent. In the opening rounds he usually felt out his rival and when he had him sized up, he would get down to business. Tommy Burns of British Columbia was the champion heavyweight boxer of the world. The two contenders for his title were Langford and Jack Johnson. But Burns would not fight either of them. There were no fight athletic commissions in those days and If a boxer champion didn't want to meet a certain challenger he didn't have to. On April 26, 1906 the two heavyweight challengers, Langford and Johnson, met. 28 years old, Johnson, almost six foot tan and weighing 185 pounds, towered over 20-year-old Langford who weighed Just 155 at 5'6". From round one to seven Sam stood up to Johnson and fought him to a standstill. Every time Johnson hurled his famous knockout punch, Sam would duck just in time. Round eight. They clinched. Johnson broke away and walloped a terrific hook to Sam's jaw.