Thursday, 21 November 2024

Henry Armstrong

Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Athletes 2024
Embed from Getty Images
Sport(s): Boxing
Statistics: Boxing Record: 151-21-8, 101 Wins by KO
1-Time Featherweight Champion
1-Time The Ring Featherweight Champion
1-Time Welterweight Champion
1-Time The Ring Welterweight Champion
1-Time Lightweight Champion
1-Time The Ring Lightweight Champion
Member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame
The heavyweight division dominates boxing, but the United States produced its fair share of lighter weight talent. Henry Armstrong was the poster child for that statement, and he was America’s first superstar who was not a heavyweight.
Debuting in 1931, Armstrong dominated the featherweight division and won the world featherweight title in 1937. Still, it was when he moved up in weight class to welterweight a year later, a champion in that division, where he became a national treasure. Armstrong again moved up in weight, winning the lightweight title. He only held the lightweight belt briefly, losing it in his second defense to Lou Amber, the man he won it from, but he successfully defended the welterweight title 19 times in a two-year period before he lost to Fritzie Zivic.
The boxer was a trailblazer for lighter boxers to sell out arenas and pursue belts in different weight classes, and he was the first man to hold three different championships in three different weight classes at the same time.
Notably, in 2007 Ring Magazine named him the second greatest fighter of the last 80 years. When you see that rank from that respected publication, you have to take notice.
We are proud to nominate Henry Armstrong for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.

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