Boxing Champions honor Henry Armstrong in Kingdom Day Parade.

Los Angeles, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/07/2013 --On January 19th, the Henry Armstrong Foundation participated in the 28th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Kingdom Day Parade in Los Angeles, Calif. with the help of numerous sponsors and professional fighters past and present.

The parade was televised locally by ABC 7 and Edward Scott, Jr., founder of the Henry Armstrong Foundation as well as Armstrong's grandson, was able to pull together a magnificent float in a short amount of time.

Participants included current WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin, who trains at LA's Wild Card Gym and shares an ironic connection to the all-time great Armstrong. Before becoming a multi-divisional world champion, Armstrong was homeless and penniless and sought shelter from the Midnight Mission in Skid Row in Los Angeles. Before becoming world champion, Quillin himself was broke and sleeping on a mattress he found in an alley in New York. As well, the original Kid Chocolate was the inspiration to Armstrong to become a professional fighter when he read on a flyer how much Chocolate was making for a prizefight.

Another participant was former heavyweight contender Henry Tillman, who defeated Mike Tyson twice in the amateurs. Tillman and Quillin signed a number of items that will be auctioned off at a later date in order to raise money for the Foundation, including a commemorative Henry Armstrong 100th birthday glove as well as a commemorative t-shirt.

Also participating was James Brock, a professional fighter with a modest record but one who has great ties to south central Los Angeles where the parade took place. Brock is from Crenshaw, which was the longest stretch of road in the parade. Many observers of the parade recognized Brock as a local.

The float couldn't have come together without the help of a number of sponsors, particularly boxing governing body the World Boxing Council as well as premium cable network EPIX Sports, who has recently gotten into the fight game with great success. Also contributing as sponsors were Sacramento based boxing promoter OPP Presents headed by Osric Pratt, who was on the float. Dream Vision Realty and Sweetwater Printing Inc. rounded out the list of sponsors who made it possible.

Maxboxing.com's Radio Rahim conducted an interview with Quillin about the MLK Parade as well as his upcoming fight with Fernando Guerrero, which was to take place on Feb. 9th but has now been moved to Apr. 27th when main event participant Danny Garcia suffered an alleged training injury. The video can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtSY5Ik6ogc

The Henry Armstrong Foundation would like to thank all who contributed to the process, it couldn't have come off the way it did without their help. Look out for the Henry Armstrong Foundation's future programs which will be announced in a future press release.

About the Henry Armstrong Foundation
Founded in 2005, the Henry Armstrong Foundation continues to partner with other organizations, such as The Midnight Mission and Feed the Children. They also support other youth programs. One of its ultimate goals is to develop a new youth center to replace the old one founded in 1952, and to empower and enhance young people’s self-esteem through entrepreneur/vocational training and sports programs in the city of Los Angeles.

For more information, visit: http://www.HenryArmstrongFoundation.org.

For more information on sponsorships or volunteer opportunities, call: 323-634-2199.

Media Only Contact:
Edward Scott, Jr. President
of The Henry Armstrong Foundation, Inc.
+1-323-533-2313
Scottedward1@aol.com
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