Who were the Top 10 pound for pound boxers in the 1930s?
Welcome to Part 5 of 13 from the newest Boxing Survey Series, which will survey volunteers in an effort to determine the best pound for pound boxers from each decade. For this particular survey which focuses attention on boxers from the 1930s, a total of 23 volunteers participated. Each volunteer provided a chronological list of between 10 and 25 names to cast their votes for the best boxers in the 1930s.
It was an interesting decade for professional boxing. The major sanctioning bodies of the day, which included the NYSAC and NBA, seemed to become more inclined to strip champions of their titles than had been the case in previous decades. The decade also saw three new three-division world champions in Tony Canzoneri, Barney Ross, and Henry Armstrong. Prior to them, the only previous three-division champion was Bob Fitzsimmons back in the 1890s. The 1930s was of course also the decade where the great Joe Louis first won the heavyweight championship in what would become the most dominant reign in championship history. In many ways, the 1930s is like a tangible point in time where boxing began planting seeds and evolving toward its more modern form.
Among the all time great legends who competed during the decade, one of the most notable standouts was the aforementioned Henry Armstrong. Not only was Armstrong just the 4th man to win championships in three different weight classes, amazingly Armstrong simultaneously held the world featherweight, world lightweight, and world welterweight crowns at the same time. Indeed Amrstrong was a towering figure during the long rich history of professional boxing, one of the very best to ever do it.
So who were the Top 10 pound for pound boxers during the 1930s? And where does Henry Armstrong figure in?
This edition of Rummy’s Corner will attempt to answer that question based on the results from part 5 in this Survey, which included 23 volunteers. Please watch and enjoy the video. This is Rummy’s Corner (produced and narrated by Geoffrey Ciani).