I've seen the argument made that Homicide Hank wasn't a truly great P4P power puncher, but an attrition/volume puncher. Well, yes, he certainly was a volume puncher, but he certainly had good power at least. How do you rate his one shot power pound for pound all time? Great or just good?
Obviously just good. Allowing for the number of punches he connected with - many - and his KO%, around fifty I think, even the high level he boxed at cannot allow that he has great power. You think otherwise?
It must have been quite great at lower weights since he knocked out most of the opponents he fought. A volume puncher doesn't win something like 35 fights with all but one by knockout as Armstrong did in 1937. People tend to get the wrong idea because he doesn't score any stoppage wins in the few filmed fights that we have of Armstrong but that's mostly because he is fighting competition with very, very solid chins.
Yeah, KO % drops dramatically when you're facing top quality boxers with great skills and chin over and over.
I wonder how these men would rate his punching power: This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected Or the rest of the 100 opponents Armstrong knocked out.
I have no solid opinion on his power, other than that it was good. It seems that one could argue his power was better than just good, but that one is not me. I don't know enough.
The thing with Armstrong is, he threw so many punchers so rapidly and so often, and worked at such a relentless and tireless pace that it's hard to nail down just what was his best punch in his arsenal was. When on the inside his hooks and uppercuts seem to be some of his most dangerous weapons. But there is no douting Hank's power. In 1937 Amstrong scored 27 straight wins, 26 by KO. A pretty incredible stat to say the least. From December 1936 until September 1940, Henry compiled a 59-1-1 record (51 KOs) competing against some of the best Prizefighters in the world. As some have said when fighting world class oppostion with solid, solid chins and great durability like Barney Ross, Ceferino Garcia, Baby Arizmendi it's always going to be a very difficult task to score a KO victory. One of Armstrongs most impressive inside the distance wins is when he took the Featherweight Title from the quick and elusive Petey Sarron in 1937.
Amrstrong was heavy handed, like Chavez and Duran. He would bust people up. At lighter weights, his opponents usually couldn't make it to final bell. Even at welterweight he beat down study fighters. He wasn't explosive the way Manny is. And clearly Manny carries serious power, as evidenced by the faces of those he beats. But I would never underrate Armstrong's power. He was a juggernaut.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MrEKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Qk0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2932,5164084&dq http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e4ASAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KfUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7121,5470655&dq
That, and he's usually fighting above his ideal weight (130 pounds) against naturally bigger men. I agree, he seems to have been a pretty big puncher in around the 126-130 pound weight range. In the span of a year, he KO'd both Benny Bass and Pete Sarron, two fighters who were reportedly never counted out otherwise. He also had a crushing 1st round KO of legitimate contender Tony Chavez and another early KO of highly regarded title claimant Mike Belloise. All of that is unusual behavior for a fighter that is merely a "volume puncher." I think the notion that he was never that big of a puncher comes from those people that are only familiar with his fights above 130. Even then though, you'll notice that when he fought fighters coming up from around his natural weight, such as Lew Feldman and Lew Jenkins, he scored some explosive KOs against them. I think it was because he was so often fighting bigger men who could absorb his punches better that Armstrong may not seem like that big of a puncher in films of him.