Bob Armstrong (boxer)
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Bob Armstrong (September 4, 1873 – January 5, 1933), was a heavyweight boxer known as the " King of the Battle Royal". He was born in
Rogersville, Tennessee Rogersville is a town in and the county seat of Hawkins County, Tennessee, United States. It was settled in 1775 by the grandparents of Davy Crockett. It is named for its founder, Joseph Rogers (pioneer), Joseph Rogers. Tennessee's second oldest ...
, but he moved with his family to Washington, Ohio when he was three years old. Before he got into boxing, Armstrong worked with racing horses in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He made his debut on September 19 in a six-rounder against
Joe Choynski Joseph Bartlett Choynski (; November 8, 1868 – January 24, 1943) was an American boxer who fought professionally from 1888 to 1904. Boxing career "Chrysanthemum Joe", the son of a Jewish Polish immigrant who settled in California in 1867, weigh ...
in Chicago, Illinois. He lost the decision on points. Choynski used him as a sparring partner, as did world heavyweight champion pretender
Tom Sharkey Thomas "Sailor Tom" Sharkey (November 26, 1873 – April 17, 1953) was an Irish professional boxer who laid claim to the world heavyweight title by defeating Bob Fitzsimmons on December 2, 1896 in a highly controversial fight. Sharkey's recor ...
and the true heavyweight champs
Bob Fitzsimmons Robert James Fitzsimmons (26 May 1863 – 22 October 1917) was a Cornish professional boxer who was the sport's first three-division world champion. He also achieved fame for beating "Gentleman Jim" Corbett (the man who beat John L. Sulliv ...
and Jim Jeffries.


World Colored Heavyweight Champ

On December 21, 1896, he won the
World Colored Heavyweight Championship The World Colored Heavyweight Championship was a title awarded to African-American, black boxers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This was the only recognized heavyweight championship available to black boxers prior to Jack Joh ...
vacated by long-time colored champ
Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...
by knocking out
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in the 19th round in a fight held in New York City (although some sources claim the bout took place in Philadelphia on March 25, 1897). On New Year's Day 1897 he fought Joe Butler in Philadelphia and was knocked out in the second round. They met again on the sixth of March in a title bout, and Armstrong prevailed, winning by a technical knock-out in the 6th round. The following day, he fought Frank Childs and lost to him on points in a non-title bout. His next fight was a title bout with Sam Pruitt in San Francisco on April 23, 1897, which he won via a 1st round knock-out. His next official fights resulted in a loss on points to Joe Sheehy in a four-rounder in June and a win against Jack Douglass via a TKO in the 2nd round on September 13. Some sources also report that he beat Jack McCormick on September 25. In 1897, he also fought two exhibitions against
Tom Sharkey Thomas "Sailor Tom" Sharkey (November 26, 1873 – April 17, 1953) was an Irish professional boxer who laid claim to the world heavyweight title by defeating Bob Fitzsimmons on December 2, 1896 in a highly controversial fight. Sharkey's recor ...
in May and fought two exhibitions against two different opponents, Jimmy Barry and Childs, on May 29. He fought an exhibition against Joe Choynski in August and finished out the year with an exhibition against John Holtman in November. In the new year of 1898, Armstrong put his championship on the line in a rematch with Childs. On January 29, 1898, and Childs took the title by knocking Armstrong out in the second round.


Post-Championship

On August 5, 1898, Armstrong fought top white heavyweight contender
James J. Jeffries James Jackson Jeffries (April 15, 1875 – March 3, 1953) was an American professional boxer and List of world heavyweight boxing champions, world heavyweight champion. He was known for his enormous strength and stamina. Jeffries fought out of ...
, who was less than a year away from winning the world's heavyweight championship, in a 10-round bout at the Lenox Athletic Club in New York City. Armstrong lost on points. He fought colored heavyweight champ
Denver Ed Martin Edward "Denver Ed" Martin (September 10, 1881, or 1877 – May 11, 1937) was an American boxer who was the World Colored Heavyweight Championship, World Colored Heavyweight Champion from February 24, 1902, when he beat Frank Childs, until Februar ...
for the colored heavyweight title in the
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in London on July 25, 1902. According to the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
coverage of the fight:
"Martin proved the cleverer and never gave his opponent a chance, being declared an easy winner on points at the close of the fifteenth round; Martin, it is announced, will challenge the winner of the Jeffries-Fitzsimmons fight in San Francsico."
Martin was not given a title shot and met Armstrong for a rematch in Philadelphia on December 10 According to the ''Daily Gazette and Bulletin'':
"The bout was fast from the start and both men narrowly escaped a knockout. The bell saved Armstrong in the third and fifth and Martin was floored six times in the fourth round."
The six-round bout ended in
no decision
In his next fight, Martin lost his title to Jack Johnson, who would one day break the color bar and become the first African American heavyweight champion of the world. Armstrong retired after being KO-ed by Walter Johnson in Haverhill, Massachusetts on December 26, 1904. He ended his career with an official record of 17 wins (with 15 KOs) against 11 losses (in which he was KO-ed six times) and five draws. He also had a newspaper decision record of one win and one draw. On January 29, 1932, he worked the corner for
King Levinsky King Levinsky (10 September 1910 – 30 September 1991), also known as Kingfish Levinsky, was an American heavyweight boxer who fought during the 1930s. He was born as Harris Kraków and was a member of the Kraków fish-selling family of Maxwel ...
in his fight against Max Baer. He died on January 5, 1933, in
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.


Legacy & Honors

In 2020 award-winning author Mark Allen Baker published the first comprehensive account of The World Colored Heavyweight Championship, 1876-1937, with McFarland & Company, a leading independent publisher of academic & nonfiction books. This history traces the advent and demise of the Championship, the stories of the talented professional athletes who won it, and the demarcation of the color line both in and out of the ring. For decades the World Colored Heavyweight Championship was a useful tool to combat racial oppression-the existence of the title a leverage mechanism, or tool, used as a technique to counter a social element, “drawing the color line.”


Professional boxing record

All information in this section is derived from
BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...
, unless otherwise stated.


Official record

All
newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a " no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club ...
s are officially regarded as “no decision” bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.


Unofficial record

Record with the inclusion of
newspaper decision A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a " no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club ...
s in the win/loss/draw column.


External links

*


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, Bob 1873 births 1933 deaths Heavyweight boxers African-American boxers World colored heavyweight boxing champions American male boxers Boxers from Tennessee Boxers from Ohio People from Rogersville, Tennessee People from Washington Court House, Ohio 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen