Ringside Report Looks Back at Legendary Boxing Champion Henry Armstrong (1912-1988)

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

Henry Jackson Jr. was the name he was born with but not the name he fought under. That was Henry Armstrong, 149-21-10, 99 KOs. Known as Homicide or Hurricane Henry, he fought in four weight divisions of the time – feather, light, welter and middle – and became world champion in three of them. In the decade that Joe Louis was making a mockery of racial superiority at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Armstrong, was doing it in the ring and in 1937, The Ring Magazine named him “Fighter of the Year.”

Boxrec have him in the top 20 pound for pound fighters of all time – he is 12th – and he fought for and won world titles in three weight categories – feather, light and welterweight – holding them all, remarkably, at the same time! The accolades are long and lasting as the Boxing Writers of America, ESPN, the International Boxing Hall of Fame and even Bert Sugar, have given Armstrong their highest praise and where they could their biggest prizes.

Born in Mississippi, in 1912, he traveled with his family, a sharecropping father, and full Iroquois mother, north to St Louis, Missouri as part of the Great Migration of African Americans, when he was 4 years-old, from the rural landscape of the south to the industrial heartlands of Missouri. despite being a bit of a brawler in the street, he was no slouch academically and graduated from High School with honors, reading at his graduation an original poem – his middle name was Melody after all!

In the amateurs he used his middle name in the ring, though when at the age of 18 he decided to give up a steady job to fight for money.

Melody Jackson apparently became Henry Armstrong when he took the name of former boxer and trainer, Henry Armstrong. The impetus to become professional apparently came when he failed to make the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic squad. Al lovino knocked him out in the 3rd round on the 27th of July 1931 in North Braddock. As referenced on BoxRec and quoted from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of July 28. “Al Iovino, Swissvale, 123 pounds, knocked out Melody Jackson [Armstrong], recent importation from the South, in the third round with two minutes and 27 seconds of the session gone. Jackson started out trading wallops and kept it up until he grew tired, with both lads slugging toe-to-toe. Iovino got Melody in bad condition as round three progressed, the southern lad showing extreme dislike for body blows. When Al clipped him with a long overhand left that found its target, Jackson went face down upon the canvas.” It was not an auspicious start by any means

As I have mused many times, we have fighters in the modern era who cannot handle failure. A loss is devastating and the rebuilding of a career beyond their capabilities. They often fall out of love with a sport which can still put food on their table. And yet some fighters – like the UK’s Johnny Nelson or Spain’s Kiko Martinez – can find their success built at world level after earlier adversity taught them how to take risks or win well whilst never fearing the bitter taste of defeat.

What did surprise me was that in 1936, I read that Armstrong’s contract was bought over by none other than Al Johnson. Jolson’s man was Eddie Mead, and it was, apparently, Mead who guided the purchase.

And so, in 1937, when Armstrong went on a huge undefeated streak, it included when he won his first world title knocking out Petey Sarron out in Madison Square Gardens in the 6th round on the 29th of October.

He was on a roll. It was part of a sequence of 27 knockout wins in a row which is still one of the longest on record.

Whilst the featherweight champion, in 1938, he took on Barney Ross for the welterweight champion whilst giving away a remarkable 8 ½ pounds! Armstrong won on points on the 31st of May, back at MSG. In an a interview afterwards and having beaten his opponent for the majority of the fight, it was in ESPN that he was quoted as saying, “I carried him the last four rounds,” Armstrong said. “I was asked to do it, and he thanked me.” It reveals quite a character at the heart of all the achievements.

Then came Lou Ambers and the lightweight title. On the 17th of August 1938, he took a split decision win against him at MSG, despite having 4 rounds penalized. In the fight Armstrong was cut, bleeding in his mouth and was warned by the referee that if he spit any more out, he would stop the fight. Armstrong spat it all in the bucket from then on between the rounds. It took 37 stitches after to close the wound he suffered.

Remember this was a time when there were only eight weight categories. Armstrong was world champion in nearly 50% of them! This has never been repeated and it took him only 10 months to achieve it.

The return fight came in 1939, the 22nd of August, when Armstrong went to war in the Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx, in front of 29,000 fans. Armstrong was penalized again – this time five rounds for low blows – in a fight that many felt he lost because of that in a fight determined by rules rather than by skill.

Having already relinquished the featherweight title, Armstrong was to rile imperiously with the welterweight crown he had left.

On the 1st of March 1940, remarkably, he fought Ceferino Garcia for the middleweight title in what would have been his fourth weight world championship. It was scored a draw though historian Bert Sugar, claimed that many believed Armstrong had won the fight – even in the good old days there were bad old decisions! Armstrong had already beaten Garcia in a welterweight defense so his confidence would have been high that he could have won the fourth title. Armstrong’s left eye was closed in the fight and the resultant draw favored the champion, Garcia.

Now those amongst you aware of the significance of dates in world history shall no doubt, mention that this was an era of darkness across the world. We were heading towards a world war, or even in the beginning of one, the likes of which would engulf the planet. It would leave most sports without contests as huge battles for the future of our lives were fought on battlefields and on the oceans of our world, rather than on fields and in rings. It led to lesser fights being battled in the ring as many world class fighters heeded the call to fight for their country.

Those who are sport savvy shall also note that starting a war in 1939 and ending it 6 years later takes more than a chunk out of a boxer’s career. It could remove their prime time as an athlete. There is also the argument that when the scores were settled at war, there were fewer men from which to pull champions afterwards.

All of this is true to an extent, but you can only beat the man who is put in front of you. But by 1945, Armstrong had retired. His final belt had gone in a two-fight sequence – the first fight which he lost the title and the rematch against Fritzie Zivic. Zivic was a calculating operator who really punished Armstrong by targeting his eyes which bore the scars of his previous fights. Firstly, on points and then being stopped in the 12th round. Armstrong would have been forgiven for retiring right there and then, but he took time off and had his final fight after a mini comeback against Chester Slider in Oakland on Valentine’s Day 1945; at the same time Allied Forces were carpet bombing Dresden. Once more it was felt he had won the fight but the referee awarded the contest to Slider controversially, claiming he had lost his score card and had to “remember” who he thought had won!

Armstrong ducked no one and had bult a career by beating champions past, present and future. The biggest names at the time to enter a ring had entered with him and most left empty handed, whether he retained his belt or took theirs. At welterweight that included a streak of 18 successful defenses!

In retirement he became a Baptist minister, having battled alcoholism and lost any fortune he had made in the ring, leading a quiet life where he gave service and continued to teach the young in his sport.

In 1988, boxing lost one of its most unassuming and modest heroes. It is to his career; however, we look at wonder and see many lessons which could still be taught and learned from today.