"Homicide Hank" Henry Armstrong's first World Welterweight Title defense against Ceferino Garcia of the Philippines from 1938. More info below...

Henry Armstrong is continually ranked as one of the best, if not the BEST, pound for pound boxers of all time. The man whose nicknames consisted of, Hurricane Henry, Homicide Hank, Hammerin' Hank or a combination of the three, started his career in 1931 as a featherweight and had worked his way through the weight categories to his current status as World Welterweight Champion. He had 108 fights under his belt over that 7 year period with a record of 91-11-6. Armstrong didn't have the best start to his career, after his first 5 fights he had only managed to win twice however he quickly improved and by 1937 he was the NBA and NYSAC World Featherweight Champion. Just 7 months after relinquishing both these belts so he could concentrate on boxing in the higher weight categories, he would win the World Welterweight Title from fellow boxing legend, Barney Ross. Before Armstrong defended his newly won welterweight belt against Ceferino Garcia, he would also beat Lou Ambers for the World Lightweight Title via split decision.

Ceferino Garcia was a very experienced boxer and held a 101-24-12 record dating back to 1923. He had challenged Barney Ross for the World Welterweight Title in 1937 but came up short over 15 rounds. He was a former multi-time USA California State Welterweight Champion and a 2 x Orient Welterweight Champion. He was also well known for popularizing the "Bolo Punch". Ceferino entered this fight coming off back to back KO wins against Jackie Burke.

Ceferino gave Armstrong much more difficulty than most were expecting, including managing to rock Armstrong a couple times with right hands. Ceferino had weighed in at 146lbs before the fight, 12 lbs heavier than Armstrong and also possessed a 3 inch reach advantage, but that wasn't going to deter Hurricane Hank. In the end, Ceferino finished the bout with cuts over both eyes, a cut on his left cheek, and badly swollen hands that he had hurt in the 3rd and 6th round. Armstrong's left eye was completely swollen shut during the 15th round but had still done enough to win by unanimous decision.

Both men would fight each other again in March of 1940 resulting in a draw over 10 rounds although most ringsiders felt Armstrong had clearly won. Armstrong made 19 successful defenses of his welterweight title before finally losing it to Fritzie Zivic over 15 incredibly brutal rounds in October of 1940. He challenged Zivic to a rematch three months later but failed to win back his title, losing by TKO in the 12th and announcing his immediate retirement from the sport... 18 months later however and he would return to the ring, picking up win after win as if he had never left! Although he would never get another chance to win a world title, he did have a third match with Fritzie Zivic in 1942 and came out victorious over 10 rounds. Armstrong never backed down during his whole career and took on all challengers including great fighters like Beau Jack, Al Bummy Davis, Pete DeGrasse, Chalky Wright, Lew Feldman, Petey Sarron, Lew Jenkins, Jackie Burke and Sammy Angott among many others to retire with an incredible 151-21-9 record.

Ceferino Garcia would go on to win the NYSAC World Middleweight title in 1939 from Fred Apostoli, successfully defending it once in his home country of the Philippines, before losing it in an underwhelming performance against Ken Overlin back on American soil in 1940. Ceferino would only have a few more fights, losing as many as he won, before finally retiring in 1945 with a 118-30-14 record.

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