H. Armstrong’s Hard Bout Against Day

Southland Times, Issue 23816, 13 May 1939, Page 15

H. Armstrong’s Hard Bout Against Day

Every boxer meets his Waterloo if he stays in the ring long enough, and Henry Armstrong appears to have had a close call in his bout with Davey Day before he sailed for England. The following is an account of the match by an American writer: Battered and war-worn, but still allconquering, Henry Armstrong turned from the glutted domestic market and cast his eyes at England, where he will display the talents that have snuffed out 45 straight opponents, the last courageous Davey Day, of Chicago. Armstrong, bloody, spent, the index finger on his left hand broken, was badly beaten in Madison Square ring recently. They helped the little negro from the ring, but he still wore the world’s welter-weight crown. He had a right to wear it proudly. For after eleven rounds, in which he had taken command, lost it, hurt both hands, and seen his early lead slip away, he gathered himself and danced out to stop Day with a short right hook. Henry Armstrong weighed 135 pounds, Day a pound more. The punch dropped Day, by this time bewildered by the dancing doll who never stops, to the canvas. Referee Billy Cavanaugh started to count, checked

himself, and as Day staggered wearily to his feet, threw an arm around the gallant Chicagoan’s shoulder and walked him to his corner.

The technical knock-out, which came at 2.49 minutes of the twelfth round, ended one of Armstrong’s toughest fights. He had punched Day round the ring in the first four rounds, taking little in return, when Day suddenly started to go. The crowd of 10,028, that paid 29,008 dollars, went wild.