Langford-Welborn: a superb fight recalled
Langford and Welborn served up a Rocky style thriller
Arena Birmingham
September 8, 2018
THROUGH the haze of blood, sweat and resin, the immense courage and near super-human fitness of Tommy Langford shone like a beacon.
Somehow Birmingham's former British middleweight champion twice hauled himself off the canvas against Jason Welborn. Somehow he survived sledgehammer blows that repeatedly stiffened his legs. And somehow, Tommy battled back.
It took defeat at Arena Birmingham on Saturday night to prove the 29-year-old possesses an immense warrior's heart.
Seemingly doomed in the early stages, Langford's refusal to succumb made this one of the classic title collisions. In a bid to reclaim the crown Tividale's Welborn took from him in May, Tommy poured out every last ounce of his fighting soul.
The pair's first meeting was a thriller: the weekend's epic surpassed it.
Again tattooed Welborn gained victory by a toss of the coin, split decision - 114-113, 115-114, 113-114. But there were many at ringside who believed Baggies diehard Tommy had done enough.
Such was the intensity of battle, there will be cries for a third meeting. Frankly, I wouldn't want either man to again put themselves through such savagery.
As a neighbouring ringside reporter remarked: "This is the best fight I've seen."
It's certainly up there.
Welborn, a welt under his right eye, said after the titanic struggle: "I eased off a little bit. Tommy was a hell of a lot better than last time - we brought the best out of each other. I was hurting my hand when I was hitting him."
Crestfallen Langford admitted: "I'm absolutely devastated, all I can do is commend Jason. I'm mortally gutted, but we'll come again."
I had it all on the final 12th round - and 32-year-old Welborn won that beyond doubts, his hooks spreading shock, like ink on blotting paper, through the challenger's long frame.
But it was Langford, a Birmingham University graduate, who left the ring a moral victor. Frankly, I was awestruck by his heroism, drained by the violence that unfolded before me.
He began brightly, utilising his height and reach advantage to keep the sawn-off, slugging champ at bay with long jabs and flurries. But within minutes Tommy was immersed in the first, deep crisis, a short right dropping him heavily.
The Devon-born boxer scrambled-up at five and actually took the second - a session in which he introduced uppercuts to his repertoire, as Welborn prowled for openings.
Another powerful right dumped Langford in the third and Tommy looked pale and shell-shocked as he hauled himself up at eight. The end, it seemed was nigh.
His legs again stiffened in the fourth and by the fifth blood seeped from a gashed left eye, yet Langford was staging a near miraculous comeback.
He was serving-up the stuff of Rocky scripts.
He took the sixth, seventh and eighth, pushing Welborn back with piston punches and working the body. And the Black Country hardman, marked under both eyes, was feeling the pace, blowing air through his bared gumshield.
The 11th was thrilling - one of the best sessions I've seen this year, as Tommy continued to plough forward despite being frozen by two bludgeoning blows.
The 12th was brutal. Langford, tired, clung on grimly as his tormentor unleashed a storm of leather. At times, he seemed poised to topple, but somehow pushed his tortured body to the final bell.
The middleweight division has provided many great rivalries - Minter and Finnegan, Benn and Eubank...Now Langford and Welborn can be added to the list.
I only hope - for the sake of their health - they don't do it again.
Picture: Sky Sports.