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Armstrong vs Nelson

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
ArmstrongWinner
88.8

Armstrong wins: Dominance, Peak, Statistics

Nelson
88.4

Nelson wins: Longevity

Candidates
Locked to Boxing

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Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Henry Armstrong
88.8

Armstrong leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories. Held world titles in three divisions simultaneously in 1938.

1. Henry Armstrong
88.8
2. Azumah Nelson
88.4

Category breakdown

Season form · Form index per season

Career timeline · Form index per season

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through year 5 · Form index per season
1. 🇺🇸 Henry Armstrong5 years played · career day 2,92182 title wins
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇬🇭 Azumah Nelson5 years played · career day 1,82526 title wins
-68.3% vs Armstrong at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇺🇸 Armstrong00002694
🇬🇭 Nelson008142636

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 years are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricArmstrongRetiredNelsonRetired
World titles3
Simultaneous world titles3
Career wins151
Knockouts10128
Title defences1913
Wins in 193727
World titles in weight classes2
Professional wins39
Career losses6
Dominance w25%9088
Peak w20%9492
Longevity w20%8286
Honours w20%8888
Statistics w15%9088

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Armstrong88.8
Nelson88.4
The people
Armstrong
Nelson

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Make your case for Armstrong vs Nelson. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.

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