Things remarkable men have done in our sport (in no order).
Henry Armstrong Holds Three Championships Simultaneously-The thought of it just staggers the imagination. He held every belt between 126 and 147. That's the equivalent of 20 belts today, all at the same time. And he didn't beat stiffs to do it. Petey Sarron was a fine feather and Lou Ambers and Barney Ross are both HOFers.
Technically he never had all 3 at once as he gave 126 up shortly after winning it in order to fixate on 135 and 147. 27 straight ko’s 1937/38. He did get all three in a span of 10 months which is astonishing. If not for the dubious draw against Garcia he would have had the 160 title also although the fight was not recognized as such by all. Several historians believe he had more like 260 fights then the recorded if you count his fights under Melody Jackson.
Mickey Walker's Move Through Divisions-The Toy Bulldog was 5'7 with a 67" reach. That's about Manny Pacquiao's dimensions. He was undisputed welter and middle king. But he moved up in weight to make more money. He defeated several ranked light heavies and a HOFer in Slappy Maxie and got a draw with HOF heavyweight Jack Sharkey. Just amazing for a little man.
The fighting Irish. Springs Toledo included him in his Gods of War series. One can only imagine what his fight with Greb was like. I read in Ring many years ago that there was a copy of that fight sitting in someone’s dusty attic. Another amazing thing about Walker is that he would at times enter the ring half in the bag.
Muhammad Ali's Level of Competition-Ali defeated 33 ranked heavyweights. Only Joe Louis comes close. Ali went 11-3 against HOFers. Sick.
Sadly there will probably never be that kind of heavyweight division again.
Harry Greb's 1919-In that calendar year the Windmill fought forty five times and didn't lose. Yup 45-0 in one year. And he wasn't fighting tomato cans either. He beat HOFers on six occasions and champions who aren't HOFers another three times. In other words he had a 21st century career in a single year.
My favourite middle weight of all time.
Ray Leonard's Big Four-I'm not sure there is a fighter in the history of the sport who has four wins over four different fighters that is any more impressive than Leonard's wins over Wilfred Benitez, Robert Duran, Tommy Hearns and Marvin Hagler.
Not many in history could equal that string. Quite the feat for sure. Never liked him in his day because of his personality but I sure respect the man all these years later.
Ray Robinson's Record Before His Retirement-Ray's record when he retired was 131-3-2. In making that record he had gone 17-3 against HOFers and in an era of one belt for each of the eight divisions he had beaten thirteen champions. After taking 30 months off? All Robinson did for an encore was come back at 34 and win the middleweight title four more times.
His peak record was actually 128-1-2 with 84 knockouts. He fought 18 world champions and beat 10 Hall of famers. It’s a damn shame there is only one or two fights of his around at 147 with the rest being lost in a fire or whatever. Wished he would have fought Burley or others from the Murders Row other then a shot Wade.
Willie Pep AFTER the Plane Crash-At 24 Pep was the the undisputed featherweight king and is 109-1-1. In a plane crash that kills several passengers Pep suffers severe injuries including a broken back and is told he'll never walk again. How tough was Pep? Six months later he was back in the ring. Though observers say he was never the same? Pep went 120-10-0 in the rest of his career. He defeated over twenty ranked contenders and had perhaps his greatest win, a fifteen round masterpiece over his nemesis, ATG Sandy Saddler.
Peps peak record was 135-1-1. The greatest win/loss ratio in boxing history.
A defensive wizard.
Len Wickwar-Who? Take a look at this. 338-85-42. Yup, that is one man's record. Wickwar was a Brit lightweight of the 1930's. A journeyman for sure. But I don't care who one is fighting, 450 fights in a twelve year career is crazy. He fought, on average, every ten days for over a decade. Did Wickwar know what he was doing? Well he lived to be seventy so his boxing days didn't ruin him.
What else ya got?
The great Canadian George Dixon surpasses that number and by quite a bit. Some estimates have him at around 800 fights.
George Dixon Biography - May Have Fought Bouts (800 ), Fought Twice in One Day, Paid Cost of High Living
Jimmy Wilde is up their to if you include his booth fights, probably close to 500.
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