Three belts, one waist

On this date 68 years ago, Henry Armstrong, real name Henry Jackson, accomplished a feat that remains unmatched in boxing history, becoming world champion in three weight divisions simultaneously.

Hurricane Hank had won the featherweight crown from Petey Sarron in 1937 by way of a sixth-round knockout. Then in May of 1937, he beat another future Hall-of-Famer, Barney Ross, for the welterweight crown.

And then on August 17th, 1938, Armstrong beat Lou Ambers for the lightweight belt, becoming the first and only King of Three Divisions at Once.

He would hold on to all three belts until the following summer, when Ambers took back the lightweight title from Hank in a rematch. Armstrong would remain the welterweight king until 1940, when he was dethroned by Fritzie Sivic in the first bout of their brutal trilogy. He retired in 1945, and remains to this day in the top five of any self-respecting boxing pundit’s list of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in history.