When Armstrong was four years old, his father moved the family to St. Louis, where he and Armstrong's older brothers found work at the Independent Packing Company. Henry held three world titles - Welterweight , Lightweight . Henry Armstrong was born on August 31 1886. As a child, Henry Jr. moved with his family to St. Louis, Missouri, during the early period of the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to industrial cities of the Midwest and North. function act(imgName) { In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. } Alternate titles: Henry Jackson, Melody Jackson. It was one of only two knockouts Armstrong would suffer in his career. His mother, America (Armstrong) Jackson was an Iroquois Indian. Armstrong first married in 1934. Born Henry Jackson, Jr., on December 12, 1912, in Columbus, Mississippi, Armstrong was the eleventh of the family's 15 children. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. ESPN ranked Armstrong as number 3 on their list of the 50 greatest boxers of all time. By his last fight, his KO ratio was at 54.6%. var navcontributeover = new Image(); That was the last time Armstrong would fight for a championship. He is considered to be one of the greatest boxers who lived on Earth. There are 1 person related to this person in our records. He did manage to win his second fight on points; however, he decided to return to St. Louis. On October 4, 1940, he lost the championship when Fritzie Zivic outpointed him in 15 rounds. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995. Father Charles Godfrey Armstrong. Late in 1938 he resigned the featherweight championship without having defended it, and on August 22, 1939, he lost the lightweight crown in a 15-round return fight with Ambers. [11] In February 1966, Rev. Davis, who has been training at the Pearl Boxing Club, is undefeated so far in his professional career at 4-0, with four knockouts. Corrections? Henry Armstrong, the only boxer ever to hold three world titles simultaneously, died of heart failure yesterday in Los Angeles after a lengthy series of illnesses. After retiring from boxing, Armstrong became an ordained Baptist minister, working with disadvantaged youth. When Armstrong was 4, the family moved to St. Louis. When Ross demanded the full amount as publicized, entertainer George Raft put up the additional funds and became the third member of Armstrong's management team. [10] Armstrong was given his first world title fight, for the title in the 126-pound weight class against World Featherweight Champion Petey Sarron at Madison Square Garden. Other honors include his being ranked 2nd on "The Ring's 2002 list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years." Well aware that his meager pay would never be sufficient to attend college, Armstrong's life changed one day when the sports section of a discarded newspaper landed at his feet. His preaching drew significant crowds to revivals and other meetings. He was a 3-weight-class world champion. After retirement, he became an ordained minister. However, since he already had two professional fights under the name Jackson, he told people that he was Harry's little brother, Henry Armstrong.Armstrong competed in the 1932 Olympic trials. In 1936, entertainer Al Jolson and actor George Raft underwrote the purchase of Armstrong's managerial contract from Edward Mead.Armstrong knocked out Petey Sarron in six rounds in 1937 to win the World Featherweight Championship, and was named "The Ring Fighter of the Year in 1937. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. He grew up in, Frazier, Joe 1944 } He was the first champion, Im going to be the next champion, Davis said. We have 458 records for Henry Armstrong ranging in age from 31 years old to 97 years old. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/henry-armstrong, "Henry Armstrong Armstrong was one of the few fighters to win in three or more different divisions: featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight. His biggest hit was "Sweet Adeline", written in 1903 with Richard H. Gerard. "I was asked to do it, and he thanked me. Armstrong was in many ways the complete prototype of a pressure. Securing a contract with Cox for three dollars, he had almost 100 amateur fights, in which he won more than half by knockout and lost none. How do we create a person's profile? The most consecutive boxing world welterweight title defences is 18 by Henry Armstrong (USA) from 25 November 1938 to 23 September 1940. Henry J Armstrong has a residential history of 3 addresses in 2 cities and now lives at 3411 Kip St, Philadelphia, PA. Henry can be reached via 2 phone numbers. His father, suffering from rheumatism, struggled to provide for the family. Entertainer Al Jolson, who had witnessed the final bout between Armstrong and Arizmendi, was so impressed with Armstrong that he convinced New York manager Eddie Mead to take on the boxer, and Jolson supplied $5,000 to buy out Ross's contract rights to Armstrong. There he became involved in boxing. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Armstrong defended his Lightweight belt in a rematch with Ambers, which he lost on a 15-round decision. Armstrong fought as an amateur from 1929 to 1932. He is currently the Mid America super middle weight title holder, winning the title in 2020. December 5, 1938: Armstrong successfully defends the NBA and The Ring welterweight titles against Al Manfredo, winning the fight via 3rd round TKO. Armstrong's streak of 27 knockout wins in a row qualifies as one of the longest knockout win streaks in the history of boxing, according to The Ring magazine. Henry Armstrong, who moved to St. Louis with his family as a youngster, was the only boxer ever to hold three world titles simultaneously. He won 14 fights before bypassing the lightweight title and challenging welterweight champion Barney Ross for his crown on May 31, 1938. . Henry Armstrong (Homicide Hank) was an American professional boxer. Henry Armstrong Stats, Bio. Henry Armstrong, original name Henry Jackson, (born December 12, 1912, Columbus, Mississippi, U.S.died October 24, 1988, Los Angeles, California), American boxer, the only professional boxer to hold world championship titles in three weight divisions simultaneously. On March 1, 1940, Armstrong attempted to win from Ceferino Garcia the New York State version of the middleweight (160-pound) title, which was then in dispute, but the decision was a draw, permitting Garcia to retain the championship. Al Weill, Ambers' manager, was suspended four months for his unsportsmanlike behavior. He decided not to maintain the required 126-pound weight anymore and left the featherweight crown vacant.[12]. He was born in Columbus, Mississippi on December 12, 1912. navcontributecold.src = "/i/sportscentury/nav_contribute_cold.gif"; For all the details about Armstrong's world title wins and defenses refer to "Henry Armstrong World Titles". worldCharley Rose ranked Armstrong as the #6 All-Time Welterweight; Nat First, he knocked out featherweight champion Petey Sarron in the sixth round on Oct. 29, 1937. Armstrong had a 151-21-9 record in his 15-year professional career. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. edited by David L. Porter, Greenwood Press, 1995. Professional boxer 1913-1998 For other people named Henry Armstrong, see, Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, California, Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri, Convention Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, California, Billed as a World Middleweight Title fight recognized only by California, Municipal Audiotrium, Saint Louis, Missouri, Harringay Arena, Harringay, London, England, Municipal Audtiorium, Saint Louis, Missouri, Madison Square Garden Bowl, New York City, New York, International Amphitheatre, Chicago, Illinois, University of Detroit Stadium, Detroit, Michigan, Dexter Park Arena, Woodhaven, New York City, New York, Municipal Auditorium, Saint Louis, Missouri, Retained world featherweight title (CaliforniaMexico), Won world featherweight title (California-Mexico), Retained USA California State featherweight title, Civic Auditorium, Watsonville, California, Bakersfield Arena, Bakersfield, California, Pismo Beach Arena, Pismo Beach, California, Main Street Athletic Club, Los Angeles, California, Culver City Stadium, Culver City, California, Meyers Bowl, North Braddock, Pennsylvania, "BoxRec ratings: world, pound-for-pound, active and inactive", "Boxing Hall of Fame names first inductees", "IBRO All-Time Ratings - Pound For Pound Results", "IBRO All-Time Ratings - Featherweight Ratings", "IBRO All-Time Ratings - Welterweight Ratings", "IBRO All-Time Ratings - Lightweight Ratings", "Henry Armstrong: Goes for Four Divisions", "Ceferino Garcia vs. Henry Armstrong (2nd meeting) BoxRec", Armstrong, seated, posing with a title belt, National Boxing Association's Quarterly Ratings: 1938 BoxRec, National Boxing Association's Quarterly Ratings: 1939 BoxRec, National Boxing Association's Quarterly Ratings: 1940 BoxRec, The Ring Magazine's Annual Ratings: Lightweight--1930s BoxRec, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Armstrong&oldid=1135310555, World colored welterweight boxing champions, International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees, 20th-century African-American sportspeople, 20th-century Baptist ministers from the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2016, Pages with login required references or sources, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, In 1987, he was among those inductees from, In 1995, Armstrong was posthumously honored for his boxing career by being inducted into the, The story of his life is retold in the radio drama ", This page was last edited on 23 January 2023, at 22:13. Copyright 2023 WLBT. All but one of his defences were in the USA. These 11 fights are the highlight of his career. Ambers opened a cut on Armstrong's lower lip, and Armstrong, afraid the referee would stop the fight, swallowed the blood throughout the fight and succeeded in winning on points. Sims is 9-1 in his professional boxing career, with five knockouts in his nine wins. By his last professional fight on February 14, 1945, Armstrong's boxing record stood at 151-22-10 (100 KO wins, 2 KO losses). That fight, before 29,088 fans at Yankee Stadium, was another brawl as the fighters pounded each other for 15 rounds. See an An Overview of Records at the National Archives Relating to Military . He met the minimum weight by upping his calorie intake, drinking beer the days before the bout and a lot of water on the day of weigh-in. Some of Armstrong's best fights and notable victories include wins over 11 Hall-of-Famers (Sammy Angott, Lew Jenkins, Fritzie Zivic, Pedro Montanez, Baby Arizmendi, Lou Ambers, Barney Ross, Chalky Wright, Petey Sarron, Benny Bass, and Midget Wolgast), Ceferino Garcia, Al Manfredo, Bobby Pacho, Lew Feldman, Howard Scott, and Richie Fontaine. [11], In 1937 alone, Armstrong went 270 (26KO). On October 29, 1937, Armstrong returned to the featherweight division and challenged Petey Sarron for the . As an amateur Armstrong fought under the name of Melody Jackson. During his final years, Armstrong suffered from numerous illnesses, including cataracts and dementia, commonly attributed to the punishment he took as a boxer. He was 27-0 with 26 knockouts in 1937, 14-0 with 10 knockouts in 1938, and 59-1-1 with 51 knockouts from December 1936 to October 1940. He also wrote the autobiographical God, Gloves, and Glory (1956). compiled a 59-1-1 record (51 KOs) competing against the best in the [2] Historian Bert Sugar also ranked Armstrong as the second-greatest fighter of all time. Floyd Patterson was born on January 4, 1935 in Waco, North Carolinathe third of 11 children. As a youngster, he got into neighborhood street fights. October 9, 1939: Armstrong successfully defends the NBA and The Ring welterweight titles against Al Manfredo, winning the fight via 4th round TKO. Encyclopedia of World Biography. After Armstrong turned the trick in 1938, no boxer was ever again allowed to be a champion in more than one weight division simultaneously.In 1939, Armstrong lost the World Lightweight Championship in a rematch with Ambers by a fifteen-round unanimous decision. During his years attending Vashon High School, Armstrong excelled, earning good grades and gaining the respect of his peers. His mother, America, was half-Cherokee Indian. Armstrong made his debut against Al Lovino at the age of 18 on July 27, 1931, losing to Lovino via 3rd round KO. All records listed on our website are current and up-to-date. Higginbottom believes Davis can be among the best of the best. Facing Arizmendi once more in August 1936, Armstrong secured his first title as the new featherweight champion, beating Arizmendi so badly that he was forced to take six months off. Im defending my belt, I think this is about my fourth time to defend this title, and it just means so much for me, Sims said. December 12, 1912October 22, 1988 Born in Columbus, Mississippi, on December 12, 1912, boxer Henry Armstrong became the featherweight, welterweight and lightweight world champion in 1938. Henry Armstrong, born Henry Jackson, decided to become a boxer after reading in a St. Louis newspaper that Kid Chocolate had beaten Al Singer at the Polo Grounds in New York, and was paid a purse of $75,000.At the "colored" YMCA on Pine Street in St. Louis, he met an older fighter named Harry Armstrong, who became his friend, mentor, and trainer. been; During 1937, he was 27-0 with 26 knockouts; In 1938, he was 14-0 But not for long. //