Sam Langford -- Canada

Sam Langford was a Black Canadian boxer of the early part of the 20th century, called the "Greatest Fighter Nobody Knows," by ESPN.  The Ring rated him No 2 on their list of "100 greatest punchers of all time." Langford was originally from Weymouth Falls, a small community in Nova Scotia, Canada.  

He was known as the "Boston Bone crusher," and "Boston Terror", Langford stood only 5 ft 6 1/2 in (1.69 m) and weighed 185 lb (84 kg) in his prime.  In 1886, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and had around 300 officially recorded professional contests from 1902 to 1926. 

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, as he was black and it was convenient for many of the top white contenders to draw the “colour line” to avoid facing him, and he was too good to risk their title.  As a result, he was ducked by many champions, Jack Johnson's refused to risk his crown against Langford, even the legendary Jack Dempsey admitted his reluctance to face Langford.  Writing in his biography; “The hell I feared no man, there was one man, he was even smaller than I, I wouldn’t fight because I knew he would flatten me, I was afraid of Sam Langford.”  However Langford did hold the heavyweight championship title in England, Australia, and Mexico. Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer rated Langford as one of the ten best heavyweights of all time. 

Sam 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. One story characterising his career involved Langford walking out for the 8th round and touching gloves with his opponent. "What's the matter, Sam, it ain't the last round!" said his mystified opponent, "Tis for you son," said Langford, who promptly knocked him out.

His last fight was in 1926, when his failing eyesight finally forced him to retire.  At 43 years old Sam eventually went completely blind and ended up penniless, living in Harlem, New York City. In 1944, an article was published about his plight and fans donated money to help Langford, and eventually enough funding was obtained to pay for successful eye surgery.

In 1955 Langford was enshrined in the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. He died a year later in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he had been living in a private nursing home.  In 1999, Sam Langford was voted Nova Scotia's top male athlete of the 20th century.