One of the more interesting stories in Richmond Football Club’s proud century of VFL/AFL football, relates to Bill Lang.

The 182cm, 89kg Lang played in Richmond’s 1905 VFA premiership side and was a pioneer member of the Tiger team that entered the VFL competition in 1908.

He was a full-back and follower, renowned for his courage and fearless approach, who went on to play 14 games over the course of the next couple of seasons.

At the end of the ’09 season, however, he decided to hang up his boots, so that he could concentrate on his other great sporting love – boxing.

Lang, whose real surname was Langfranchi, was no run-of-the-mill pugilist either.

He started his professional boxing career in 1905 and quickly rose through the heavyweight ranks.

His first big fight was in front of 15,000 people, under lights at Richmond racecourse on March 4, 1907 when he took on glamour American boxer Jack Johnson.

The brilliant Johnson, who subsequently went on to win the world heavyweight title, knocked out Lang in the ninth round.

Not to be denied, however, Lang restored his reputation and ranking in the heavyweight division with a string of wins, which set up a title bout on September 3, 1908 against world champion Tommy Burns.

The fight was scheduled for 20 rounds, but Lang was knocked out in the sixth round by the Canadian.

Five months later, (February 3, 1909) Lang fought Bill Squires in a 20-round bout for the Australian heavyweight title, and proceeded to knock him out in the 17^th round.

Later that year (October 25), he successfully defended his title in a rematch with Squires, knocking him out in the 20^th round.

And, before the year was out (December 27), Lang again defended his Australian crown, with a 12^th round knockout of triple world title-holder Bob Fitzsimmons in Sydney.

Lang eventually lost his Australian heavyweight title on April 11, 1910 to Tommy Burns, on a points decision over 20 rounds.

He then fought overseas, in both America and England, before returning to regain the Australian heavyweight title with a knockout victory over Bill Squires.

On September 8, 1911, Lang lost his title to Jack Lester in a points decision over 20 rounds.

Lang’s last professional fight took place on November 25, 1916, when he was knocked out.

All-up, Lang had 44 fights for 34 wins, with three of his losses on points over 20 rounds.

In 2004, Lang was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame, in recognition of his achievements as a heavyweight on the world stage.