Johnson defeated Sam McVey three times, each contest being over the twenty-round route. He clashed with Joe Jeannette six times, boxing four no-decision bouts, losing once on a foul, and beating Joe over fifteen rounds. Johnson and Sam Langford met but once in the ring, and that famous mill, like the Tunney-Dempsey fight in Chicago, and the Firpo-Dempsey clash, has come up for discussion time and again. They fought at Chelsea, Massachusetts, and Jack was declared the winner after fifteen rounds. Langford’s supporters claimed that Sam almost had Jack out, but Jack’s adherents said that Langford took the worst beating of his career. Joe Woodman, Sambo’s manager, stated after the fight that Langford floored Johnson with a right uppercut, but if you wanted to get Jack’s goat, you had only to repeat that statement in his presence. Jack Johnson often came to see me, and I sometimes pulled his leg about the Langford fight until he was ready to tear the roof down. Once after I had kidded him, he turned on me almost in tears. “Listen, Nat, please don’t say that,” he pleaded. “Say anything you want about me. Call me a quitter. Call me the worst fighter you’ve ever seen, but please don’t say that Langford dropped me or even gave me a tough fight.” Dad Phillips, my father-in-law, an octogenarian whose knowledge of boxing I’d pit against that of any man, was in my office and he listened attentively to Johnson’s plea. When Jack had finished, Dad, who had seen the fight, agreed with Johnson. His version of the battle as he related it to me made Johnson quite happy. Here’s what Dad said: “Jack Johnson decisively defeated Sam Langford. He was complete master of the situation. Jack so far outclassed Langford that for a time, until he purposely eased up on his onslaughts, the fight was one-sided. “Langford was dropped twice for counts of nine, and he would have been out the first time if referee Martin Flaherty had not slowed up the count. At the end of the fight Sam had to be taken to a hospital. “As for Langford dropping Johnson, that’s absurd. Why, he couldn’t land on Jack.” A few days later I cornered Joe Woodman, who handled Sam in that fight. “Look here, Joe,” I said, “whatever you did years ago when Langford was in need of publicity is okay with me. But now that Sam is out of the picture, I’d appreciate the low-down on that knock-down which you said that Sam scored over Jack.” “It’s true, all right, Nat,” was all Joe would say. Several weeks passed and Woodman again came into my office to introduce to me a new heavyweight, who shuffled uneasily as he listened to the following conversation. “Nat,” said Joe Woodman, “I’d very much appreciate it if you would run a story and picture of this lad. He’s a good boy, but needs some publicity.”