Where does Armstrong vs Barney Ross rank among history's all time greatest wins?

A great win for Armstrong, but Barney Ross at that time was past his peak.
Ross was on the way down...Ross was fighting 10 years against such greats as McLarnin, Canzoneri, Billy Petrolle, Ceferino Garcia,etc, Prior to turning pro he won several goden glove titles...

 

IMO it´s the greatest win of all time. Ross wasn´t considered past prime, a dominant welterweight champ and at least Top20 p4p, with a case for Top10. Armstrong moved up from featherweight and dominated him. Can it really get any better than this? Greb´s wins over Tunney and Walker are up there but I think they fall just short. The best post-WW2 win is Duran-Leonard I IMO.

 

that's very high regard and while i don't entirely agree you make a good point.

i think it rates as armstrong's best, which considering his resume is tough to pin down. ross was likely on the slide but certainly not so much to diminish the win significantly

it's the ease with which he won. he completely dominated a man who had never, and would never, be dominated in such face again. certainly agree that ross is a top 20 ATG (at least the argument can be made strongly) and a beatdown over ANY such fighters is brilliant

 

Top 10 of all-time for sure, but Ross being past his peak means it doesn't quite stack up to wins like Duran-Leonard 1 or Greb's win over Tunney, IMO.

 

I agree completely. Ross was not seen as a declining boxer and I think revisionist history overplays this angle just a little. Armstrong would be Ross's final fight, and he was 28 y/o (not that age is a measuring stick as different boxers decline at different rates), but he had gone over 3 years without a defeat (Some question that SD loss as well), and had been active in the previous months. He may not have been absolut prime, but I feel close enough that this makes #1 IMHO and I would struggle to see it outside of the top 5!

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AJ&pg=6895,6191820&dq=armstrong+vs+ross&hl=en

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=7123,566556&dq=armstrong+vs+ross&hl=en

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...BAJ&pg=768,4332214&dq=armstrong+vs+ross&hl=en

 

Has to be in the top 5.

To move up and completely dominate a champion who'd only been beaten once in 7? or so years is amazing. A rare occurrence indeed.

 

It was an amazing win.
I haven't a list of "greatest ever wins", but if I had, I guess this would be pretty high up.

 

WOW not seen much footage of Armstrong at all. He's like a more mobile version of Joe Frazier. More elusive, better footwork and upper body movement. Frazier's was effective enough against the greatest mover. With these extra attributes maybe the style of Foreman or another uncher would not be his achilles heel. Armstrong must be the ultimate swarmer. Never doubted him, ive seen some of the guys on his resume he beat, but this makes me think maybe i need to reconsider my perceptions of this time. Ross looked like no slouch either.

 

B,it was a great win fo Armstrong r Armstrong, for certain. But I have read the Barney Ross book, by Douglas Century. Century did an excusive interview with Barney Ross's surviving brother, in which the brother who saw all of Barney Ross's career, said Barney was starting to slide by that time, in 1938...
Just 3 years later Zivic ,who was not in Barney Ross's class, stopped Armstrong, who had won 22 of 23 bouts before old Fritzie stopped him in
1941...
As for Armstrong having a better record than Harry Greb..No way...Greb
fought 120 more bouts than Henry, against a slew of more Hall of Fame
larger men. Who besides Ross can be compared to Gene tunney, Tommy Loughran, Tommy Gibbons, Mike Gibbons, Jack Dillon,Battling Levinsky,
Maxie Rosenbloom, and Mickey Walker who was ALWAYS rated ahead of
Barney Ross as a fighter by everyone who saw them both. Can you even
envision Ross tackling Jack Sharkey,Paul Berlenbach, Max Schmeling etc,
as the Toy bulldog did.? Never..
Finally Armstrong was stopped by Zivic in Henry's 130th or so bout. Harry Greb, aside from his first year against a much more experienced and HEAVIER Joe Chip,and against Kid Graves,when Harry broke a hand, was
NEVER STOPPED ever again in a 300 bout career. And oh,yes,Greb fought
with just ONE EYE in the last part of his surreal career..Armstrong was
amazing...Harry Greb was more so....Cheers b..

 

I didn´t compare Armstrong to Greb, I compared Armstrong´s win over Ross to Greb´s over Tunney and Walker. I think Armstrong´s is better, not by much though.

 

Why does Greb's win over Walker compare?

 

As great as Frazier was, he doesn't have much on Armstrong. He's the poor man's version of Armstrong and Qawi is a poor man's version of Joe. All very elusive and great with maybe the exception of Qawi. And yes, Armstrong is one of the greatest swarmers. Ross was the man at WW and Armstrong beat him in a very one-sided manner. Great win and in the echelon of wins like Tunney-Greb or Leonard-Duran 1 but it may rank below those only slightly.

 

Maybe so, but I think the odds on Ross shortened over that postponement period to almost even-money by fight time. So, the punters were certainly gaining faith in Armstrong.