Barney Ross (NOT Armstrong) - First simultaneous 3x champ

[My2Sense]

A lot of you may already know this, but I wanted to raise a discussion on this anyway.

Henry Armstrong is often credited today as being the first (and only) fighter to hold 3 world title simultaneously. However, that appears to be incorrect. Barney Ross in fact held the LW, jr. WW, and WW titles at the same time.

I think some people today seem to be under the impression that Ross vacated his lightweight title prior to winning the WW title, as he never defended it after rematching Canzoneri. However, Ross in fact held the LW title until April 1935, during which time he won and lost the WW title. This is confirmed by any contemporary news report from '34 and early '35, which denotes Ross as being the LW titleholder. According to reports, he was twice mandated to defend his LW title against a top contender, and twice received extensions from the NYSAC so he could fight McLarnin at 147 each time. In early '35, as Ross prepared for a third fight with McLarnin, the NYSAC put its foot down and ordered him to defend his LW title against #1 contender Lou Ambers, or else he would not be permitted to fight in NY (where the McLarnin fight was to take place). Ross vacated his title so he could proceed with the third McLarnin fight. Here's a quick report from the NY Times, dated May 2, 1935, confirming when he vacated his title: "When Ross vacated the title last month, on the plea that he could no longer make the lightweight limit, the New York State Athletic Commission consented to recognize the winner of a bout between Canzoneri and Ambers as champion."

So my question now is, how did Armstrong (instead of Ross) come to be credited as the first fighter to hold 3 title simultaneously? As I read through these old reports (mostly from NY papers), I noticed that Ross was continually denoted as the lightweight champ, but no mention was ever made of his jr. welter title. In fact, I seem to remember one report describing some of his jr. welter title defenses as "non title fights." This leads me to suspect that perhaps the jr. welter title was not widely recognized in Ross' own time, so that in many people's eyes, Ross was only viewed as a two-division champion at the time he held the LW and WW titles. Today, Ross is recognized as a three-division champ, but somehow fails to get the recognition as a simultaneous three-division champ.

Anyone else have anything thoughts/info on this?

[Brutu]

It sounds like there were revisionists back even then.
Important to counter argue any claims made by them before the facts are altered and become accepted.

[Brutu]

Maybe the various boxing historians do not consider at least one of those titles legit?

[dempseyfire]

I think Armstrong's record is usually the fact that he was the champ of 3 of the original 8 weight classes.

Junior welter has an interesting history in that it seemed to get some legitimacy in the 1930s, then died off, then came back again in the 1960s and really became considered a major division in the late 1970s.