Dan Morley continues continues his GOATs of boxing series with ‘Homicide Hank’, a man who simultaneously dominated half of the weight divisions in the sport.
Henry Armstrong
Record: 151-21-9 (101 KOs)
Years Active: 1931-1945
Before he embarked upon potentially boxing’s greatest-ever career, Henry Armstrong worked on the railroads. Upon reading about Cuban Great Kid Chocolate earning $70,000 for one night’s work, Armstrong decided to pursue a professional career. When looking back at the greats of the ’30s and ’40s, it’s worth noting how many were inspired by the heavily influential Kid Chocolate. Many of boxing’s greatest donned the gloves after watching his silky skills.
Armstrong simply fought to eat as a teenager, compiling one of the worst starts to the career of any great fighter. He was knocked out within three rounds of his debut and consecutively lost three on the bounce, holding a journeyman-like record of 1-4 after his first five fights. In fact, his early career form is shaky at best. Whilst learning the trade early on, the five-foot-five brawler won just 42 out of his first 60 bouts. But in 1936, something clicked.
Homicide Hank’s run between March 1936 and Sep 1940 is what I believe to be the greatest in history. Armstrong’s persistence through the turbulent early years served as a harsh but impactful learning curve. He had expertly learned how to close the gap and suffocate opposition with such an elite level of intensity and pressure that no one has been able to replicate in the near century since.
The style he fought with was purely relentless. Whilst usually possessing a low guard, he would repetitively bob and weave his way and plant himself on his opponent’s chest. Once he was in range, he stuck like glue and pounded away with never-ending barrages over the 15 rounds. Although opponents scarcely lasted the distance.
Armstrong lost once in 61 fights across a stretch of just under four years. He would KO Petey Sarron to become the world featherweight champion in 1937 within six rounds. Toppling his first world title opponent amid a brutal successive 27-fight KO streak.
Fellow Hall of Famers Benny Bass, Frankie Klick and Chalky Wright would fall victim to his concussive fists throughout these fights, until Mexican all-time great Baby Arizmendi took him the full 10 rounds in a losing effort.
Seven months and 14 victories after battering Sarron for 126lb supremacy, Armstrong moved up two divisions to take on one of history’s greatest-ever fighters, Barney Ross, for the Welterweight Championship. Ross himself had achieved the staggering feat of winning three-division titles, battling the legendary Tony Canzoneri, Jimmy McLarnin and Izzy Jannazzo, amongst many of the other Hall of Famers of a talent stacked 1930s.
On the subject, it’s an era forgotten through time. The 80s has become synonymous with the brilliant four kings’ rivalry. The 70s for the iconic heavyweight trio of Ali, Foreman and Frazier, atop a ferociously competitive division. The 30s has been known as ‘The Golden Era’ for the lightweights, where many of the greatest lighter weight men engaged in history’s most epic wars.
Ross had emerged as the best of the bunc,h having suffered just three defeats across 80 fights. But for 11 rounds, Armstrong unrelentingly battered the champion in his swan song. Having deeply admired Ross, the challenger held him up for the final four rounds – allowing him to see the final bell for the last time; an act Ross later thanked Armstrong for. Upon winning the fight, Armstrong had jumped 21 pounds, the equivalent of five divisions today, and hammered the champion. By this point he held both titles simultaneously.
In his next fight, he accomplished history, pulling off an achievement that no one else has matched throughout the entire history of boxing. Three months after beating Ross, Armstrong moved down to lightweight to challenge champion Lou Ambers for the 135lb Title.
This bout against another all-time great would prove to be his toughest so far. He was dropped twice in both the fifth and sixth rounds. The referee even stated, ‘If you spit any more blood on the floor, I’m going to stop the fight’. The damage would result in 37 stitches, but Armstrong eked out a split decision victory, now becoming boxing’s only ever simultaneous three division champion’, and he had done so within a 10-month span.
Immediately after, more records would be set as Armstrong defended the welterweight crown. Despite being at a huge size disadvantage, he made 19 successful defences of the welterweight title in 22 months, which remains the most successful sequence of title defences in the division’s history, over 80 years later.
Felix Trinidad’s 15 defences hold the spot for second place during a near-seven-year reign, with lights-out puncher Pipino Cuevas third all-time in the rankings with 11 across four years. Armstrong defeated Hall of Famers Pedro Montañez, Bobby Pacho, Ernie Roderick, Baby Arizmendi and Ceferino Garcia throughout his reign. Ambers would gain revenge in a razor-close rematch – handing Armstrong the only defeat of his prime in a split decision loss in a fight of the year where he was penalised five times for low blows.
As if the absurd numbers over such a huge weight span weren’t impressive enough, the Filipino, Ceferino Garcia, who had already lost to Armstrong in a welterweight title fight, had become the world’s middleweight champion.
The rematch was set and ‘Hammering Hank’ looked to become a four-division champion. Armstrong set about in typical fashion, pummelling the champion through the duration of the fight. When the scorecards were announced, all at ringside were convinced Armstrong had won, further immortalising his already freakishly brilliant legacy. Still, the fight was scored a draw and Garcia kept his title in one of the sport’s worst robberies.
Armstrong’s best days were over and one of the dirtiest, greatest fighters of all time, Fritzie Zivic, defeated him twice in a row for the belts. Armstrong would never box for a title again. Nevertheless, he would gain revenge against Zivic, whilst beating top names such as Leo Rodak, Lew Jenkins, Sammy Angott, Willie Joyce, and Tippy Larkin. He would even face off against a young Sugar Ray Robinson.
At his best, Armstrong conquered half of the sport all at once. In an era with only eight weight divisions, he obliterated four, holding titles in three officially, all of which he cleared up in less than a year. In the modern day, it’s the equivalent of seven weight divisions.
He continuously battered all within this weight window, losing controversially just once to a man he’d already defeated across 61 fights. His record across this three-and-a-half-year run was 59-1-1 (51 KOs). The draw was a robbery. Within this, he won 27 straight fights in 1937 alone, 26 by KO, during a separate 27-fight KO streak. Then, after all of these, successfully defended the titles by an all-time record-breaking margin in just 22 months.
Looking at the bigger picture, he overcame severe adversity early on to dominate the sport in unprecedented fashion. His final career numbers were 151 wins, 21 defeats and nine draws, many of which he suffered early on, compiling 101 KOs. His legacy has seen him rated by some as the greatest boxer ever to live.
He had blown through his ring earnings by his early 30s and ,after boxing, overcame alcoholism and became an ordained Baptist minister in 1951. He passed away at 75 in 1988. It was discovered that his heart was one-third larger than the average human and he had an abnormally low heart rate, a huge contributing factor to the intensity he was able to persist with. A persistence which dominated boxing.
Armstrong defeated 11 Hall of Famers, the joint third of all time. He scored 14 victories in 18 fights against them – his victories against Hall of Famers are as follows:
Midget Wolgast, Barney Ross, Sammy Angott, Lou Ambers, Lew Jenkins, Fritzie Zivic, Pedro Montañez, Benny Bass, Chalky Wright, Baby Arizmendi and Petey Sarron.
