Born with the name of Henry Jackson Jr. in Columbus, Mississippi, on December 12, 1912; At age 4, Armstrong and his large family (he was the 11th of 15 children) moved to St. Louis. There, his grandmother took care of him after his mother passed away.
After graduating from high school, he worked on laying the railroad tracks. While at work, one day he saw an article about a boxer who had won $ 75,000 for a fight. Inspired by the story, he decided to pursue boxing.
After witnessing Armstrong’s ability to overwhelm opponents with a relentless round of punches, Al Jolson became one of the owners of the fighter’s contract. With new trainer Eddie Mead, he devised a new strategy for Armstrong to conquer the world of boxing.
In 1937, he became the champion of Featherweight after knocking out Petey Sarron. The following year, he advanced two divisions and, in May, won the title of welterweight, defeating Barney Ross. A few months later, it was moved to the category of light weight. His August 1938 victory against Lou Ambers gave him the lightweight crown, making him the first to hold three titles in different weight classes at the same time.
In late 1938, he decided not to defend the featherweight title and lost the lightweight title in 1939. He tried to become middleweight champion in March 1940, but the match ended in a draw.
On several occasions, he successfully defended his welterweight crown, but on October 4, 1940, a loss to Fritzie Zivic saw him lose that title as well. Although he had other victories in his career, including one against Zivic in 1942, Armstrong was never able to again hold a champion title.
In 1945, He retired from boxing. Despite having made at least half a million dollars during his career, he had very little money when he retired. Soon his problems were compounded by his drinking problem.
Armstrong became a Baptist minister in 1951. He stopped drinking and began working with at-risk youth in Los Angeles. After returning to St. Louis, he took a job at the Herbert Hoover Boys Club.
Over the years, his health began to decline, in part due to the brutal blows he had endured in the ring. Dependent on Social Security to make ends meet, Armstrong also had to deal in his later years with a vision defect and senile dementia. He died on October 22, 1988, in Los Angeles, at the age of 75.
He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. That organization awarded him 151 wins, 21 losses and 9 draws in 181 fights. In addition to this impressive record, Armstrong remains a boxing legend for his simultaneous world titles in three different divisions.