Hey Johnnie! Nice question.
In 1906, Sam Langford faced Jack Johnson before Johnson had a title. Langford lost a decision to Johnson. But once Johnson won the Heavyweight title, he refused to give Langford a rematch. Although he refused to rematch Langford, I still think Johnson would've won. Langford was greater than Johnson pound for pound in my opinion. He fought from Lightweight to Heavyweight which is an amazing thing to do. That would be like Adrien Broner fighting Lucas Matthysse, Floyd Mayweather, Saul Alvarez, Sergio Martinez, Andre Ward, Bernard Hopkins, and Marco Huck! No way would he do that of course, lol, but my point is that what Langford did was great! And those guys were champions, while Langford wasn't given a chance at a title.
There wasn't a Cruiserweight back then, but if there was, this would have favored Langford of course, since Johnson was always a Heavyweight, and Langford fought at multiple weights. But, Johnson, even though people say he's overrated, was a great at Heavyweight, while Langford could maybe be Top 20-30. Great as Langford was, Johnson was too big for him. I think Langford would keep coming and could hurt Johnson at times, but Johnson will use his superior boxing skills to win a unanimous decision.
Winner: Jack Johnson by unanimous decision.
Thanks for the question Johnnie, your questions are interesting and fun to answer!
Langford obviously was a tough match-up for Johnson. It could be the case of "styles make fights". But anywhere you look at it, Jack Johnson had overwhelming advantage over Sam Langford in terms of size, athleticism and skill. I think Johnson would outbox Langford 9 times out of 10.
Jack Johnson was really not a big heavyweight despite being called as the prototype of the modern heavyweight and hence he would still be in his natural elements fighting at around 200 lbs.which is the weight limit for the cruiserweight class now. He was also used to fighting opponents weighting 175 lbs. to over 200 lbs. Fighting someone like Langford therefore would not be new to him. If anything, it would be Langford who would have to do the adjusting fighting a foe as skilled, as smooth and as strong as Jack Johnson. Langford therefore would have to work doubly hard just to match up with Johnson even at cruiserweights. And I think his effort would fall short. Johnson by workmanlike 15 round UD.
it would probably be a SD for Jack Johnson or SD for Sam Langford or it might even be a draw
they did fight
prime vs. prime who wins and why?
