Teddy Atlas, the experienced boxing coach and analyst, has picked Henry Armstrong as the greatest boxer of all time. He made this surprising choice in a recent YouTube video, passing over the often-cited Muhammad Ali.
Atlas, who has worked with big names like Mike Tyson, Barry McGuigan, and Michael Moorer, shared his thoughts on The Fight channel on YouTube. He explained his choice of Armstrong, highlighting the boxer's incredible career statistics and achievements.
"Henry Armstrong. 300 fights, 100-something knockouts. I mean Henry Armstrong won the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, no in-between junior titles full titles, then he went and fought for the middleweight title and they robbed him. They made it a 15-round draw. He would have had four full titles, and he defended them."
Armstrong's record is indeed impressive. He racked up 151 wins in 181 fights and defended his welterweight title 19 times. The Boxing Records website, BoxRec, ranks him as the 12th greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time.
What really sets Armstrong apart, according to Atlas, is his incredible work ethic and willingness to fight anyone, anytime. In one year, Armstrong stepped into the ring about 35 times. Atlas pointed out how this compares to today's boxers:
"These guys nowadays, if they fight four times in a year we're like 'wow.' Three times [we applaud it]. Armstrong once fought about 35 times in a year. In a year!"
Today's champions often fight only twice a year, making Armstrong's activity level seem almost unbelievable.
Armstrong's career, which ended in 1945, was marked by his signature ferocity and an incredible work rate. He won titles in three weight classes - featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight - and nearly grabbed a fourth in middleweight, ending in a controversial draw.
While Atlas has worked with many great fighters, including Wilfred Benítez whom he considers the best he's trained, his choice of Armstrong as the all-time greatest shows the depth of respect he has for the boxer's achievements and work ethic.
