Henry Armstrong
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.
Henry Armstrong | |
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Henry Armstrong in 1937 | |
| Born | Henry Melody Jackson Jr. December 12, 1912 Columbus, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | October 22, 1988 (aged 75) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names |
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| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) |
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| Height | 5 ft 5+1⁄2 in (166 cm) |
| Reach | 67 in (170 cm) |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 181 |
| Wins | 151 |
| Wins by KO | 101 |
| Losses | 21 |
| Draws | 9 |
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. In 2007, The Ring ranked Armstrong as the second-greatest fighter of the last 80 years. Boxing coach and commentator Teddy Atlas considers Armstrong to be the greatest of all time. 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. He was posthumously inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 1990. 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.