IN ENGLAND in the summer months of 1939, it was clear that a storm was coming. Just over two decades on from the end of the First World War, another terrible conflict approached in Europe. However, danger also approached from the west, in the shape of a hurricane. Leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, it showed no sign of slowing down. This storm would hit London on May 25, and its name was ‘Hurricane’ Henry Armstrong.
Armstrong is surely the second greatest fighter, behind Sugar Ray Robinson, to take part in a professional boxing match in the UK. However, in 1951, it was an unfocussed and underprepared Robinson who lost to Randy Turpin. The 1939 version of Henry Armstrong who came to London was only a year removed from the greatest year of his career and a series of victories that constitute one of the most incredible achievements in boxing history.
Henry’s grandfather was a white
