Henry Armstrong

For other people named Henry Armstrong, see Henry Armstrong (disambiguation).
Henry Armstrong
Henry Armstrong in 1937
Born
Henry Melody Jackson Jr.

(1912-12-12)December 12, 1912
Columbus, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedOctober 22, 1988(1988-10-22) (aged 75)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names
  • Homicide Hank
  • Hurricane Hank
  • Hammerin' Hank
Statistics
Weight(s)
Height5 ft 5+1⁄2 in (166 cm)
Reach67 in (170 cm)
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights181
Wins151
Wins by KO101
Losses21
Draws9

Henry Jackson Jr. (December 12, 1912 – October 22, 1988) was an American professional boxer and a world boxing champion who fought under the name Henry Armstrong.

Armstrong was one of the few fighters to win in three or more different divisions: featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight. He defended his welterweight title a total of nineteen times.

The Ring magazine named him Fighter of the Year in 1937. The Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) named him Fighter of the Year in 1940. He is currently ranked by BoxRec as the 12th-greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time.[1] In 2007, The Ring ranked Armstrong as the second-greatest fighter of the last 80 years.[2] Boxing coach and commentator Teddy Atlas considers Armstrong to be the greatest of all time.[3] Historian Bert Sugar also ranked Armstrong as the second-greatest fighter of all time. ESPN ranked Armstrong as number 3 on their list of the 50 greatest boxers of all time.[4] He was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 1990.[5] In 2019, the International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO) ranked him as the second best boxer of all time, pound for pound, as well as the second-best featherweight, third-best welterweight, and fifth-best lightweight of all time.[6][7][8][9]

  1. ^ "BoxRec ratings: world, pound-for-pound, active and inactive". BoxRec. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  2. ^ Andrew Eisele. "Ring Magazine's 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years". About.com Sports. Archived from the original on 2017-01-08. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  3. ^ "The Greatest Boxer of All Time - Henry Armstrong, Says Teddy Atlas - Here's Why He's the GOAT". YouTube.
  4. ^ Mulvaney, Kieran (11 May 2007). "All-Time Greatest Boxers". ESPN. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
  5. ^ "Boxing Hall of Fame names first inductees". UPI.
  6. ^ "IBRO All-Time Ratings - Pound For Pound Results" (PDF). International Boxing Research Organization. 31 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  7. ^ "IBRO All-Time Ratings - Featherweight Ratings" (PDF). International Boxing Research Organization. 31 March 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  8. ^ "IBRO All-Time Ratings - Welterweight Ratings" (PDF). International Boxing Research Organization. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  9. ^ "IBRO All-Time Ratings - Lightweight Ratings" (PDF). International Boxing Research Organization. 30 June 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2022.