Teddy Atlas has worked with and seen up close some of the best names in boxing, but doesn’t rate Muhammad Ali as the greatest to ever do it.
For many years Atlas was a coach and worked with Mike Tyson in his early days, as well as the likes of Barry McGuigan and Michael Moorer, who he helped guide to world title in 1994. Then there was Alexander Povetkin, Timothy Bradley and Wilfred Benítez, who he has since said was the best he worked with.
Speaking on his own The Fight channel on YouTube, Atlas picked his greatest boxer of all time and went with a lesser-known talent who was the 1937 Fighter of the Year and currently sits 12th on BoxRec’s greatest pound-for-pound list, Henry Armstrong.
“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.
“He’s pretty damn special, the greatest of all time.”
Armstrong’s career was defined by his incredible work ethic and his willingness to fight anyone, anytime. He defended his welterweight title a remarkable 19 times, facing all comers with his signature ferocity before retiring in 1945.
Atlas praised the impressive Armstrong, who won 151 of his 181 contests, for being much more active than today’s champions.
“These guys nowadays, if they fight four times in a year we’re like ‘wow.’ Three times [we applaud it]. Amrstrong once fought about 35 times in a year. In a year!”
Right now many current champions fight only twice a year if the fans are lucky.
