Henry Armstrong
Roberto Duran
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Henry Armstrong leads 2 of 2 categories. Our all-time ranking places Henry Armstrong at #3 and Roberto Duran at #6.
The case for Henry Armstrong
Armstrong achieved the single most astonishing feat in boxing history: for several months in 1938 he simultaneously held world titles at featherweight, lightweight and welterweight, three divisions at once, a feat impossible under modern rules and never equaled. Nicknamed Homicide Hank and Hammerin' Hank, he fought at a suffocating, non-stop pace behind a peculiarly low heart rate that let him throw punches other men could not sustain. His record of roughly 151-21-9 with 101 knockouts includes a 1937 run of 27 straight wins, 22 by knockout, and 19 successful welterweight title defenses in barely two years. He beat Barney Ross, Lou Ambers and a who's who of the lighter divisions. Only a disputed draw with Ceferino Garcia denied him a fourth title in a fourth division. For sheer output, pressure and simultaneous multi-division mastery, no one else in the sport's history comes close.
The case for Roberto Duran
Manos de Piedra, Hands of Stone, fought across five decades and four weight divisions, from a terrifying lightweight to a middleweight champion, over 119 professional bouts. His record of roughly 103-16 with 70 knockouts is anchored by one of the great division reigns in history: as lightweight champion he made 12 defenses and lost only one of his first 72 fights, a run of destructive pressure fighting, body punching and inside mastery that many rate the finest lightweight ever. He beat Ken Buchanan, Esteban DeJesus, Sugar Ray Leonard, in the 1980 Brawl in Montreal, Iran Barkley and Davey Moore, winning titles at lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight. The infamous No Mas surrender to Leonard in their rematch was a stain, but his ferocity, longevity, still competitive into his fifties, and sheer will made him a fighter's fighter and one of the most beloved and feared competitors the sport has known.