Henry Melody Jackson Jr. or better known as Henry Armstrong Jr. is a well-recognized American boxer. He is also known for nicknames such as Homicide Hank, Hammerin’ Hank, and Hurricane Hank.
Jackson or rather Armstrong, was born in Columbus, Mississippi on December 12th of 1912. During his childhood, his family moved to St. Louis Missouri, which was where he developed his pugilistic interest and developed his fighting skills.
Just like other legends such as Bernard Hopkins, Alexis Arguello, and Wilfredo Vazquez, Armstrong started his professional boxing career losing a fight with Al Sorvino in 1931 with a knockout. But that didn’t stop him from reaching the top. The first win that he had was also later that same year by defeating Sammy Burns in a 6-round decision. He moved to Los Angeles but lost four-round decision fights with Eddie Trujillo and Al Greenfield. After that 2 consecutive loss, he won 11 straight bouts. Hence, in 1933 he lost again and this time with Baby Manuel.
Armstrong was headfast and was determined to be a champ. He fought 22 fights and won each of them. He had later on encountered some losses but mostly wins. In 1937, Armstrong won 22 fights in a row and 21 of those bouts were through knockouts. He defeated Casanova by 3 rounds, Belloise by 4, Joe Rivers by 3, and also former world boxing champ Frankie Klick and Benny Bass in 4.
After that straight 22-win bout, Armstrong fought to try his first world title fight. By beating Petey Sarron in a knockout, Armstrong grasp the World’s Featherweight title Championship. He also won another 4 knockouts before that same year ended.
Henry Armstrong Jr. was regarded by a lot of boxing critics and enthusiasts as one of the greatest fighters of all time. Although Armstrong would lose a fight, he makes sure that he takes it back in 10 wins. He won more than three divisions in the boxing history where as during that time there were only 8 recognized world title divisions. He also defended his Welterweight championship title for more time than any other boxer did for their titles. He was recognized by the The Ring magazine as 2nd of the greatest boxers in the history of boxing for the last 80 years.
One of Armstrong’s greatest boxing streaks was the 27-win bouts in a row that he won and all by a knockout. It was regarded by many boxing enthusiasts as the best streak in the boxing history. Even if Mayweather and Pacquiao are the hottest buzz in the boxing ring today, they have not still reach that kind of boxing streak that Armstrong did.
Henry Armstrong Jr. had a total of 180 fights. He won 149 of those fights and 101 of them were all knockouts, he had 21 loses, and 10 draws.
