There has been discussion with wide ranging opinions regarding how good Langford, Jeannette,McVey, and Wills were.
They fought each often, but none ever got a title shot. So how good were they?
Well, listed below are their results against notable white fighters, with both their ages and opponent's ages in parenthesis at the time of their fights:
Langford (25) KO1 Fireman Jim Flynn (28)
Langford (27) Draw (No Decison) - Flynn (30)
Langford (27) K08 Flynn (27)
Langford (28) TKO5 Philadelphia Jack O'Brien (33)
Langford (30) lost 12 round decison to Gunboat Smith (26)
Langford (31) KO3 Gunboat Smith (27)
Langford (34) K0'd in 7 by Fred Fulton (26)
Lanfgord (35) lost 4 round decision to Fulton (27)
Langford also beat Flynn 3 more time when they were both in their 40's, once by KO.
Jeannette (34) won 15 round decison over George Carpentier (20) Carpentier was really a lightheavy, but was European heavyweight champion.
McVey (27) KO2 Bill Lang (28)
Wills (30) KO3 Fulton (29)
Wills (32) KO1 Gunboat Smith (34)
Wills (35) won lopsided 12 round Newspaper decision over Luis Firpo (29)
Wills (36) KO2 Charlie Weinert (30)
Wills (37) lost by disqualification in 13 rounds to Jack Sharkey (24) Sharkey was way ahead at the time of disqualification.
Wills (38) K0'd in 4 by Paolino Uzcudun(28)
It's a little disappointing that there isn't much to go on with Jeanette and McVey; however atleast there are some fights with Wills and Langford to go on.
Of course once you have a good idea how good Langford and Wills were, you can make a rough idea of how good McVey and Jeannette were since they each fought Wills and Langford several times. They also fought each other many times.
Just some food for thought. Hope this helps.
Langford/Jeannette/McVey/Wills
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BrocktonBlockbuster49
- Heavyweight

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- Joined: 29 May 2005, 00:32
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pundit
- Heavyweight

I guess this is how most would rank them.BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote:i have film of sam mcvey
heres how i rate them
1. langford
2. wills
3. jeanette
4. mcvey
Wills took over from Langford around 1916 though, and from then was arguably the world's best heavyweight until at least 1918/19 and at most 1923/24.
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Ambling Alp
- Heavyweight

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