If you’re going to debate who is the greatest boxer of all time, there are few better minds to consult than Teddy Atlas.
The trainer, boxing analyst and host of The Fight with Teddy Atlas, now 69, has shared his view on who he believes is the true G.O.A.T. While names such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson dominate most conversations, Atlas argues the spotlight should fall on a 5ft 5½in multi-weight world champion who first boxed under the name Melody Jackson.
Speaking on The Fight, Atlas said:
“Henry Armstrong.
Three hundred 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 against Ceferino Garcia and they robbed him. They made it a 15-round draw. He would have had four full titles, and he defended them.”
Atlas went on to describe Armstrong as a “punching machine”, adding that modern punch-stat operators would have had their fingers “melted” trying to keep up with his output.
“There’s a lot of great ones, but he’s my favourite. He’s pretty damn special – the greatest of all time.
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!”
Nicknamed Hammerin’ Hank and Homicide Hank, Armstrong fought a staggering 27 times in 1937 alone, winning 26 by knockout, and at one point held three world titles simultaneously.
