Henry Armstrong nuthugging thread - why he was the greatest fighter of all time

To start off, look at his record. These are fighters who were rated, at one time or another (but mostly at the time Armstrong beaten them) in the RING's top ten. Featured in bold are Hall of Famers:

Frankie Covelli
Varias Milling (x2)
Bobby Levyas
Juan Zurita (x2)
Mike Belloise (x3)
Rodolfo Casanova
Tony Chavez (x2)
Moon Mullins
Aldo Spoldi (x4)
Frankie Klick
Ritchie Fontaine (x2)
Lew Massey
Enrique Venturi
Pete DeGrasse
Petey Sarron
Billy Beauhuld
Frankie Castillo
Everett Rightmire
Lew Feldman (x2)
Ceferino Garcia (x2)
Al Manfredo (x2)
Bobby Pacho (x2)
Davey Day
Ernie Roderick
Jimmy Garrison (x4)
Paul Junior (x2)
Joe Ghnouly
Ralph Zannelli (x3)
Sheik Rangel
Leo Rodak
Jimmy McDaniels
Tippy Larkin
Maxie Shapiro
Willie Joyce (x2)
Frankie Wills
John Thomas
Saverio Turiello (x3)
Al Davis


Midget Wolgast
Baby Arizmendi (x3)
Benny Bass
Chalky Wright
Barney Ross
Lou Ambers
Lew Jenkins (x2)
Fritzie Zivic
Sammy Angott
Pedro Montanez

Armstrong beat as many 'name' opponents as Joe Louis had opponents. And he beat them 73 times.

In a three year period from '37 to '40, Armstrong had 61 fights.

He won 59... 51 by knockout. 37 of these didn't even reach the end of the fourth round.

And we're talking about top notch opposition here - Armstrong was already well into his career by the time he reached his stride and he was fighting good boxers every other week.

He wasn't filling his record with first round knockouts of taxi drivers. Armstrong was butchering the best in three good divisions.

The only two he didn't win in this period were controversial - against Lou Ambers he had several rounds taken away for seemingly legal body punches which were deemed low. Many also think he deserved the win against the heavier Ceferino Garcia, which ended in a draw.

Despite being at his best between 126 and 130lbs, Armstrong defended his welterweight title a record 18 times. 11 of those were fought in 1939 alone. He'd fought 14 times in 1938 already, and 27 times in 1937. He fought at the top level from 01/01 until 12/12 that year and won 26 of them by knockout. Aldo Spoldi, the lone survivor, would later be knocked out by Armstrong in three subsquent meetings.

He also made a defence of the lightweight title, smashing Lew Feldman in one round, before losing it questionably to Ambers.
In winning the featherweight title previously, Armstrong had steamrolled Petey Sarron for the first and only time in Sarron's career.

That's all for now because I'm losing track.

 

It was a statement; 'why he was...'

Not a question; 'why was he...?'

This thread is not open for debate. Just wriggle under the rays of greatness.

 

If I didn't know better, I'd think you were being sarcastic. But yes, Armstrong's featherweight achievements - while brief - were tremendous. Thanks for the input.

 

I have to say, I think Armstrong's the best we've seen at 126-130lbs.

Sometimes overlooked is his top five all-time offence - I mean come on, look at his statistics, read the reports. Due to the eerily coincidental points-based footage we have of Armstrong, it supports the notion that he was a swarmer. Really, he was a meat grinder.

Also, a top ten chin? Probably.

 

Well, you said it yourself. Armstrong's featherweight endeavours are only rubbish compared to his others - this division was the lesser of his three-weight reign. That's how great he was.

 

Yeah, course. I'm not an out-of-touch fogey who actually believes the bear-on-the-back stories. Pacquiao is brilliant. Good enough for me to say he beats many a former great within his own weight class.