Hank was about 5 foot 6 inches or about the same height as Manny Pacman.....He was the total package, it just depended on who he was fighting. Sometimes he would lay back and box, and sometimes he would stand toe to toe and slug, or sometimes he would countpunch...He had a cast iron chin and was stopped twice in 180 fights...And only one was a real ko and that was in his first fight when he fought under another names because it was said that he was only 16 years old to this day no one knows for sure if Hank was born in 1912 or 1915... I think that Hank is the most under rated fighter of all times, how anyone could make an all time great list and not have him in the top three is a crime...I think without a doubt that he was the greatest fighter of all times and did something that WILL never be done again...Featherweight, Lightweight, and Welterweight champion of the world at the same time. Greatest fighter of all times....:good
and by most accounts he was robbed of the MW title. as for his style Laying back and boxing was not his style at all. It was to go balls out and push his opponent back and take the fight on the inside. He could box, sure, but thats not his style at all.
the fights i have seen on tape of him, he got to the inside, bent down low, put his forehead on his opponents chest and used his legs, to drive his opponent back, while at the same time letting his arms go non stop hitting anything and evertything wearing his opponent down with strenght and non stop assault. looked virtually impossible to keep off and give opponents room to breath and punch.
No he wasnt a simple slugger he was a complete fighter, maybe in the fights that you saw that is the way that he fought, but that wasnt his style...He didnt have a style. He fought the way that he felt gave him the best chance of winning and was good enough to employ whatever style that took.
there is a boxing set in the uk of old time fighters. one is of henry armstrong and has about compilation of 8 fights of his on. he fought the same way on all the fights on the tape , so i have to presume that was his main style as it was in 3 weightclasses and he fought the same way in each. the tape never showed him boxing from distance. but only a few fights out of a whole career, albeit they were world title fights.
