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Historian Tracy Callis
Gilbert Odd
Nat Fleischer
Ring Magazine 1938
A.D. “Pop” Phillips, a boxing scribe who covered the sport for 65 years
Dumb” Dan Morgan, an old time fight manager
Harry Lenny, an old time lightweight
Tony Kelly
Professor Billy McCarney, an old time boxing instructor
Joe Woodman, who handled the all time great Sam Langford,
Barney Ross
Jack Johnson
A relentless, aggressive, attacking fighter, Armstrong had several nicknames -"Perpetual Motion," "Homicide Hank," the "Human Buzzsaw," and "Hurricane Henry." He carried a stiff punch, took a good blow, applied constant pressure, and had incredible stamina. From 1937 to late 1940, he lost only one fight - to Lou Ambers - for the Lightweight title (in 1939). His record (against topflight competition) during this time was 59-1-1 with 51 knockouts. He scored 27 straight knockouts during 1937-1938.”
“Armstrong was a fistic phenomena. He had an abnormally slow heartbeat and had to warm up in the dressing room with ten rounds of fast shadow boxing before going into the ring to fight a torrid 15 round battle. He tossed punches incessantly and they came from all angles. He fought so furiously it was impossible to count the blows he struck.”
Henry is able to avoid severe punishment by his continuous rushing tactics in which he gives an opponent little opportunity to think of anything but to protect himself against the murderous assault.”
They called Armstrong’s most chilling punch “blackout” – a peculiar looping right which was neither hook nor jab nor swing but a high flickering fast blow to the chin. “It moved about 10 inches,” Henry said, “a terrible thing to do to anybody. Most of them never saw it coming.”
Armstrong’s feat is unique in boxing", in winning the featherweight, welterweight and lightweight championships in a span of 10 months. It was an unparalleled feat never duplicated before or after Armstrong’s remarkable year. He also defended the welterweight championship successfully 19 times in two years, which is a record for defenses at 147 pounds that stands to this time.
“I’ve seen ‘em all good, bad and just ordinary fighters in every division over more than half a century, and I daresay that Henry Armstrong compares favorably to the best (featherweights}.”
You know there’s a funny thing about this lad Armstrong. He’s hard to hit solid, but when he is tagged he takes it well. The harder he is hit the more punches he throws. I can’t see a straight up fighter beating him, it will have to be a guy who can sock.” Morgan added that he didn’t think Jim Driscoll could have beaten Armstrong. “I had a fellow Pal Moore, win a newspaper decision over Driscoll by staying on top of him and I think Armstrong would have driven the Englishmen before him like St. Paddy drove the snakes out of Ireland.”
If I had Armstrong I would shoot for Ross. That’s how good I think this fellow is.” He added, “Outside of McGovern I don’t think any of them guys could have beaten Armstrong.”
“Terry McGovern would have to flatten Henry right away to win. That would have been his only chance
“McGovern was a head on fighter, with no defense to speak of, while Armstrong is really a hard fellow to get a good crack at because of his ability to slip blows that seem to be nailing him.” Going further McCarney believes that Armstrong would have won because McGovern might have punched himself out in an early round drive and then had nothing left if Armstrong withstood his opening blasts.
Armstrong is the greatest fighter in many years. Henry doesn’t knock these guys out he paralyzes them. He beats them into submission. He would have beaten Johnny Dundee without any trouble. Kid Kaplan would have been trouble for Henry but I give him a good chance against Ross or any (current) welterweight.”
he was as great a fighter at his weight as ever lived. I was in the hospital a week. I never fought in the ring again.”
“nobody ever wasted energy like that boy. There is no way in the world he could have lasted any longer than he did fighting that way
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