Hearns should be in the top 3 best ww's of all time

[them_apples]

I would also have to expect Langford to give a decent account of himself. If he survived Jack Johonson's blows, I don't think we have to worry greatly about Tommy's single firepower in this one. Sam could still take an awful beating. None of those heavyweights he faced had the speed of combo Tommy had. Tommy could go through a captain's seafood combo in minutes. But wait, Sam knocked a lot of big heavyweights out, and he was no slowpoke himself. This would be a fight. Can you imagine Duran and Langford going at it when Sam was young and could make welterweight? They were the same height. No awkward-to-consider, 6'2" Tommy to make visualization difficult..

I disagree, while Johnson is certainly physically stronger than Hearns, he couldn't throw a shot like tommy. I haven't seen the fight either, but guessing based on styles Langford probably stayed in the pocket and johnson welcomed it. That being said, i'm not writing off a man a few days generation from being a slave, he was probably inhumanely tough - but would even a semi modern ref stop it?