Armstrongs ranking at Featherweight and Lightweight

So, neither were prime high anked atgs when Oscar beat them. Ambers was. And please reas what I wrote. I wrote can if you ank Ambers very high.

 

Well ...

:good

 

JMM isn't close to top ten ****in' anywhere, let's get that straight first.

Armstrong does not get in the top ten lightweights for me....unless of course, you count some of his great Welterweight work where he weighed around that anyways....but that would of course be detrimental to his 147lb ranking, so I choose not to, and am content at having him in the top 10 for Welter and Feather, which IMO he clearly is.

Arguello is the greatest 130lber of all time. He was at his best there, a bit before prime but still quality at feather, but my question is, if you rank him in the top ten why aren't you giving Ernesto Marcel a very lofty ranking as well?

In terms of lightweight rankings, Arguello>Armstrong for; more to go on(despite Ambers prowess) and less headaches :good

 

Not sure what you're getting at? Marcel did fight Serrano at 130, but I was reverting to your original q'; is Armstrong higher than Arguello at 126? To which I am saying, if Arguello gains a lofty ranking at 126, I hope Marcel does as well :good

As per the rest of it, I agree with all of it :good

 

Nah, Arguello was the boss nonetheless IMO :good

 

I don't know enough about Serranos comp' admittedly (Villaflor is a very good 130lb scalp though and I rate him highly at the weight, know nothing of the circumstances/flow of action though so unable to really rate the class of the win) although I have seen Arguello batter Escalera (x2; also one of the best 130lbers of the 70s) Chacon, Limon and Castillo. Arguello never lost at the weight (only in his non-title excursions to 135 IIRC) and for me, Arguello has always been the no.1 Super feather, though I can see the cases for Saddler, Elorde, Floyd, JCC and Kid Chocolate.

 

I've commented repeatedly on how the cast of Hank's fist was the very tiniest on display when I went to Canastota. The difference between the size of his and that of Carnera's was like comparing a hummingbird skeleton to the femur of an elephant bird. Armstrong may well have always been a natural FW, and if he'd stayed in that division, Pep may have had a long wait getting to the top at 126.

Sarron had concluded his excellent rivalry with Freddie Miller by coming away with the title in hand the previous month, when Armstrong uniquely knocked Petey out. Being part Syrian myself, and a native of the Miami area where Sarron was chairman of the Boxing Commission there, I've expressed my advocacy for Petey getting enshrined in the IBHOF, and been surprised and pleased to have my support for his cause endorsed by other Classic posters. Armstrong KO 6 Sarron is a massive win for Hank within the division in the way it happened, but also the end of Henry's FW career. (Petey would not lose again until Angott retired him over ten in July 1939.)

As has already been noted and well known by FW historians, Arizmendi is the defining rivalry Armstrong had within the division. Sarron came out of his rivalry with the great southpaw Miller as Champion, while Freddie himself repulsed two challenges by another preferred candidate of mine for IBHOF induction, the incredible Nel Tarleton. If Hank had taken on and knocked out both Tarleton (who was never stopped in 147 fights despite having only one lung) and Miller (who was only knocked out at the very beginning and tail end of his career, going 250 consecutive bouts in between without being stopped), then his FW resume would be far more imposing. As it is, it's largely speculative and presumptuous to ascertain exactly how great he would have been as a career long featherweight, but there seems to be a consensus among many who witnessed both he and Pep at 126 that Armstrong would have definitely prevailed H2H.

 

Yes, I'm also a believer in Armstrong over Pep at FW. Styles are a part of it.