Omissions? Armstrong made his professional boxing debut at the age of 18 on July 27, 1931. He tried for a fourth world title in middleweight but drew with champion Ceferino Garcia. Two years later he was ordained as a Baptist minister at Morning Star Baptist Church. March 16, 1939: Armstrong successfully defends the NBA and The Ring lightweight titles against Lew Feldman, winning the fight via 1st round KO. The Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) named him Fighter of the Year in 1940. "Latsios spent most of the time retreating before Henry." (Lethbridge Herald) "Nick fought a remarkable fight with his flicking left, back-stepping, hit and run method.Henry was disgusted with his inability to catch the elusive Latsios.In the final frame Armstrong almost scored a knockdown but the wily Nick regained his balance after landing against the ropes." He was stopped two times and lost 20 times via decision. For all the details about Armstrong's world title wins and defenses refer to "Henry Armstrong World Titles". He was the first champion, Im going to be the next champion, Davis said. December 5, 1938: Armstrong successfully defends the NBA and The Ring welterweight titles against Al Manfredo, winning the fight via 3rd round TKO. However, the fight was so brutal that Armstrong blacked out at the end and could later recall very little of what happened. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) in 1990. Standing five feet five and one half inches tall, Armstrong fought in the featherweight class. Henry died on October 23, 1988 . Armstrong had his cornermen remove his mouthpiece so he could swallow the blood flowing in his mouth the last five rounds. [10] Early in his career, he fought some fights under the ring name Melody Jackson. Vashon High School (St. Louis, MO) . 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. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. "Latsios spent most of the time retreating before Henry." (Lethbridge Herald) "Nick fought a remarkable fight with his flicking left, back-stepping, hit and run method.Henry was disgusted with his inability to catch the elusive Latsios.In the final frame Armstrong almost scored a knockdown but the wily Nick regained his balance after landing against the ropes." Armstrong sought to become the first boxer to win world titles in four different categories in a rematch with Garcia, already the World Middleweight Champion, but the fight ended in a ten-round draw. He played a boxer named Henry "Little Dynamite" Jackson.In 1940, Armstrong challenged Ceferino Garca for a portion of the World Middleweight Championship. ESPN ranked Armstrong as number 3 on their list of the 50 greatest boxers of all time. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. WHAT MAKES A GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS TITLE? var navcontributeover = new Image(); The Greatest Boxer of All Time - Henry Armstrong, Says Teddy Atlas - Here's Why He's The GOAT THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas 280K subscribers Subscribe 1.6K Share 74K views 2 years ago. In a career spanning 13 years and 6 months, Henry Armstrong fought 183 times with 151 wins, 22 losses, and 10 draws. Desiring to help at-risk youth, he created the Henry Armstrong Youth Foundation and funded the organization from the profits of two books he wrote: Twenty Years of Poem, Moods, and Mediations (1954) and his autobiography, Gloves, Glory, and God (1956). document[imgName].src = eval(imgName + 'cold.src'); . These 11 fights are the highlight of his career. Henry married Lou M Armstrong. One of the first inductees when the Boxing Hall of Fame opened in 1954, Henry Armstrong is considered one of the top three boxers of all time. navpostcardover.src = "/i/sportscentury/nav_postcard_over.gif"; Armstrong defended his Lightweight belt in a rematch with Ambers, which he lost on a 15-round decision. He is considered to be one of the greatest boxers who lived on Earth. In the same year, he fought for an unprecedented fourth title in the middleweight division, but lost to Ceferina Garcia in a controversial decision. He had fulfilled his goal -- he reigned as champion over three divisions. Gale Research, 1989. http://www.galenet.com(December 13, 2000). The next year was an incredible one for Armstrong as he fought 27 times -- and won all of them. On file we have 73 email addresses and 55 phone numbers associated with Henry in area codes such as 757, 941, 401, 609, 314, and 32 other area codes. Bert Sugar ranks him #2, and I rank him #3 on my list of the greatest boxers of all time. [13], In 1938, Armstrong started his season with seven more knockouts in a row, including one over Chalky Wright, a future world champion. Armstrong was 25 years old with a record of 92-12-7 (60 KOs). Continue with Recommended Cookies, The most consecutive boxing world welterweight title defences is 18 by Henry Armstrong (USA) from 25 November 1938 to 23 September 1940.Advertisementsif(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,50],'guinnessworldrecords_com-box-3','ezslot_2',108,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-guinnessworldrecords_com-box-3-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,50],'guinnessworldrecords_com-box-3','ezslot_3',108,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-guinnessworldrecords_com-box-3-0_1');.box-3-multi-108{border:none!important;display:block!important;float:none!important;line-height:0;margin-bottom:7px!important;margin-left:auto!important;margin-right:auto!important;margin-top:7px!important;max-width:100%!important;min-height:50px;padding-bottom:20px!important;padding-top:20px!important;text-align:center!important}. He was the first boxer to hold three different titles simultaneously. Henry J Armstrong is thirty-eight. he had 72 victories on his ring record. 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. The event is named after the late Mississippi boxer, Henry Armstrong, who, in 1938, became the first boxer to ever hold three world titles at the same time. When Armstrong was 4, the family moved to St. Louis. He was managed by Wirt Ross, Eddie Mead, jazz singer Al Jolson and Hollywood actor George Raft. Switch to interactive mode The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia. The 23-year-old boxer was raised in Pearl, but is from Columbus. On May 31, 1938, he took the welterweight (147-pound) championship . The event is even more special for Davis. Robinson, Sugar Ray 19211989 Its kind of special saying that Im from Columbus, hes from Columbus. 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. Davis is excited to fight in his hometown. He was elected class president and selected poet laureate of his class, which provided him the opportunity to read a valedictory poem at his graduation ceremony. Henry Jackson Jr. (December 12, 1912 October 24, 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 was the son of Henry Jackson Sr., a sharecropper of African American descent and America Jackson, said to be a "full-blooded" Iroquois. On November 25, 1938 Henry Armstrong defeated Filipino boxer Ceferino Garcia via 15 round unanimous decision. Armstrong's eighteen successful title defenses were the most in history in the Welterweight division. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results Henry Irwin Armstrong (1850 - 1935) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days. Armstrong was knocked out in the 12-round fight. That didn't surprise anybody in boxing. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. . His father, Henry Jackson, Sr., was a sharecropper and a butcher. In 1938 with 14 consecutive wins, 10 by knockout, Armstrong achieved his goal, becoming the first boxer to He finally did beat Zivic, by decision in 1942, but Zivic was no longer champ. Deceased : October 22, 1988. There are 1 person related to this person in our records. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. (You will need to register / login for access). Professional Boxer. This fight is the second best . He also wrote the autobiographical God, Gloves, and Glory (1956). Armstrong was one of the few fighters to win in three or more different divisions: featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight. To this day, he is the only boxer to simultaneously hold three world titles in different weight divisions. This ended Armstrong's reign as Welterweight Champion. Encyclopedia of World Biography. Armstrong first married in 1934. That fight, before 29,088 fans at Yankee Stadium, was another brawl as the fighters pounded each other for 15 rounds. Its a possibility that the heavyweight champion of the world will be from Mississippi one day, he said. His biggest hit was "Sweet Adeline", written in 1903 with Richard H. Gerard. During the fight Armstrong suffered an eye injury that required surgery. function act(imgName) { We encourage you to research and examine these records to determine their accuracy. He is currently ranked by BoxRec as the 12th greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time. 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. He is now the NBA and The Ring featherweight world champion. But there was a sensitive side, too, as he showed at his high school graduation when he read an original poem. Armstrong won the fight, knocking out Sarron in the sixth round, thus earning his first world title as the Featherweight Champion of the World. In an attempt to gain popularity and therefore more important fights with bigger purses, they set a goal of winning titles in three different weight divisions, an accomplishment no boxer had ever achieved. Hickok, Ralph. Make sure to follow us on Twitter for updates and announcements. To this day, he is the only boxer to . 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. Armstrong retired from the ring in 1945. After 152 victories in 14 years, Armstrong retired in 1945. 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. In a publicity stunt, Jolson and Mead falsely advertised the buy-out price as $10,000. been; During 1937, he was 27-0 with 26 knockouts; In 1938, he was 14-0 The current phone number is (214) 444-3246. Henry Armstrong is recognized by boxing historians as one of the greatest fighters. Armstrong dedicated the next two years to defending the welterweight crown, beating, among others, Ceferino Garcia, a future World Middleweight Champion, and Bobby Pacho. 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. After retiring from boxing, Armstrong became an ordained Baptist minister, working with disadvantaged youth. ." He was born in Columbus, Mississippi on December 12, 1912. Following these two losses, however, he started a streak of 11 wins.In 1936, Armstrong split his time among Los Angeles, Mexico City and St. Louis. var navpostcardcold = new Image();