“King of the Battle Royal” Bob Armstrong was a giant of a pugilist out of Rogersville, Tennessee. Moving with his family to Ohio in 1876, we would make his debut in September 1894 based out of Chicago. The fights following his debut would take him to the east coast, the hotbed for the sweet science.

The Career of Bob Armstrong

Prior to starting his professional boxing career, its said that Bob Armstrong came out of the battle royal scene. These were boxing matches where multiple men were in the ring at once and had to knock opponents outside. The last boxer inside the ring was the winner. The concept would later be applied to professional wrestling. A link to an early boxing battle royal can be found below.

As for Armstrong, his career started strong with decisive wins and draws on points. In his last bout of 1896, he won the World Colored Heavyweight title following a 19-round knockout against Charley Strong.

He would defend the title in three bouts throughout 1897. Armstrong finally lost the World Colored Heavyweight title in a rematch against Frank Childs, suffering his second loss. The two would square off in 1899 resulted in a third loss.

Bob Armstrong’s career would span ten years across 33 matches. He would retire 17-11-5, fifteen of those victories would be via knockout. Armstrong passed away in January 1933 in Chicago, where his career began.

REFERENCE:

-Battle Royal (Boxing): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUXlZ51ucGA
–http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/011542