The Greatest Infighter of All Time

http://www.modernmartialartist.com/do... In the days when there were only 8 weight classes, Henry Armstrong held championship belts in three of them at the same time. Armstrong was in many ways the complete prototype of a pressure fighter. He had so many tools in his arsenal that nearly any fighter could watch him and take something away. He gained the respect and praise of boxers as stylistically diverse as Sugar Ray Robinson and Jack Dempsey, with Dempsey proclaiming that there would never be another like him. Armstrong was crafty, pulling off brilliant traps before smoothly weaving out of harm's way. But he was also brutal, once earning a streak of 27 knockouts in a row.



What was it about his style that earned Armstrong his legendary reputation and earned him so much admiration among his peers?

First and foremost, Armstrong was a master at controlling his opponents posture, balance, and positioning. I talk a lot about how fighters use footwork to maneuver themselves into superior angles, but an equally important element to fighting is the ability to maneuver the opponent in inferior angles. In other words, Armstrong didn’t so much move himself into a good position as move his opponents into a bad one.