| Emile Griffith | |
 |
|
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Real name | Emile Alphonse Griffith |
| Rated at | Welterweight |
| Nationality |  United States Virgin Islands |
| Birth date | February 3, 1938 |
| Birth place | Saint Thomas, U.S.V.I. |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 112 |
| Wins | 85 |
| Wins by KO | 23 |
| Losses | 24 |
| Draws | 2 |
| No contests | 1 |
Emile Alphonse Griffith (born February 3, 1938) is a former boxer from the U. Welterweight is a Weight class division in combat sports Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in Boxing, but other combat sports like Kickboxing The United States Virgin Islands is a group of Islands in the Caribbean that are an Insular area of the United States. Events 1112 - Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry uniting the fortunes of those two states Year 1938 ( MCMXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Saint Thomas is an Island in the Caribbean Sea, a County and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI an unincorporated The United States Virgin Islands is a group of Islands in the Caribbean that are an Insular area of the United States. An Orthodox stance in combat sports such as boxing and karate refers to someone who boxes right-handed as opposed to a left-handed fighter who is referred to as a Southpaw. Events 1112 - Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry uniting the fortunes of those two states Year 1938 ( MCMXXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. S. Virgin Islands who won world championships in both the Welterweight and Middleweight divisions. He was the first boxer from the U. S. Virgin Islands ever to become a world champion. While Griffith is recognized in some boxing books as being a three division world champion, his claim to the Junior Middleweight title was not generally recognized.
Contents |
Amateur career
Griffith won the 1958 New York Golden Gloves 147lb Open Championship. This amateur boxing tournament is considered by many boxing aficionados as one of the three most elite Golden Gloves titles along with the Chicago Golden Gloves and the Griffith defeated Osvaldo Marcano of the Police Athletic Leagues Lynch Center in the finals to win the Championship. In 1957 Griffith advanced to the finals of the 147lb Sub-Novice division and was defeated by Charles Wormley of the Salem Crescent Athletic Club. Griffith trained at the West 28th Street Parks Department Gym in New York City. The City of New York
Pro career
Griffith, who turned professional in 1958 and fought frequently in New York City, is best remembered for his televised third fight against Benny "the Kid" Paret on March 24, 1962. Year 1958 ( MCMLVIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Benny "Kid" Paret, born Bernardo Paret ( March 14 1937 - April 3 1962) born in Santa Clara, Cuba, Events 1401 - Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus. 1603 - James VI of Scotland Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Fighting for the welterweight title, Paret and Griffith boxed a close fight until round twelve, when Griffith knocked Paret unconscious, yet stood, still propped up against the ropes. The referee failed to stop the fight, and Griffith struck Paret thirteen more times. Paret never regained consciousness, and he died nine days later.
Paret was the first of only two people ever to be killed at the hands of another on live, over-the-air, national television, the other occurring just a year and a half later with the slaying of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18 1939 &ndash November 24 1963 was according to three United States government investigations the assassin of U Jacob Rubenstein (March 25 1911 – January 3 1967 who legally changed his name to Jack Leon Ruby in 1947 was an American Nightclub operator from
This incident, and the widespread publicity and criticism of boxing which accompanied it, became the basis of the documentary Ring of Fire. NBC, which televised the fatal bout, ended its boxing broadcasts and other U. The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC) is an American Television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's S. networks followed; the sport would not return to free television until the 1970s.
Griffith was traumatized by Paret's death. Ironically, even before the fight, Griffith had never been known for having a hard punch or being vicious towards his opponents. Going into the fight, his record was 28-3 with only ten knockouts.
Sports Illustrated reported in its April 18, 2005, edition that Griffith's rage may have been fueled by an anti-gay slur directed at him by Paret during the weigh-in. Sports Illustrated is an American Sports Magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. BenPhelpsJPG|thumb|right|Westboro Baptist Church picket signs with Ben Phelps grandson of Fred Phelps Paret reportedly called his opponent a maricón, the Spanish equivalent of "faggot"; Griffith, whose sexual orientation has been questioned, nearly went after him on the spot and had to be restrained. Faggot or fag, in modern North American and Australian English is a word and generally a Pejorative slur term for a gay or Sexual orientation is believed to refer to "an enduring pattern of emotional romantic and/or sexual attractions to men women or both sexes The slur was ignored by the media at the time. The article pointed out that it would have been career suicide for an athlete or any other celebrity during the 1960s to admit that he was gay. In the English language, gay is an Adjective that in modern usage refers to Homosexuality.
Griffith was not prosecuted for Paret's death. He later defeated Dick Tiger for the Middleweight title. Dick Tiger CBE (born Richard Ihetu August 14, 1929 - December 14 1971) was a boxer from Amaigbo He also lost, regained and then lost the middleweight title in three classic fights with Nino Benvenuti. Giovanni Benvenuti (born April 26, 1938 in Izola, then Isola) better known as Nino Benvenuti, is an Italian former But many boxing fans believed he was never quite the same fighter after Paret's death. From the Paret bout to his retirement in 1977, Griffith fought 80 bouts but only scored twelve knockouts. He later admitted to being gentler with his opponents and relying on his superior boxing skills, because he was terrified of killing another in the ring. Like so many other fighters, Griffith fought well past his prime. He won only nine of his last twenty three fights.
Other boxers he fought in his career were the world champions Denny Moyer, Luis Rodriguez, Carlos Monzon, Dick Tiger, Jose Napoles and in his last title try, Eckhard Dagge. Denny Moyer (born August 8, 1939 in Portland Oregon) is a retired American boxer who held the World Light middleweight title between 1962 and Luis Manuel Rodríguez (b March 14, 1937, Camaguey – d July 8, 1996 in Miami Florida) was a smooth boxing Cuban Carlos Monzón ( August 7, 1942 – January 8, 1995) was an Argentine boxer who held the Dick Tiger CBE (born Richard Ihetu August 14, 1929 - December 14 1971) was a boxer from Amaigbo José Ángel Nápoles, nicknamed Mantequilla ("Butter" (born April 13, 1940) is a Cuban former world Welterweight Boxing Eckhard Dagge ( February 27, 1948 in Probsteinhagen, Germany – April 4, 2006 in Hamburg) was a professional After 18 years as a professional boxer, Griffith retired with a record of 85 wins (25 by knockout), 24 losses and 2 draws.
Life After Boxing
He has trained other boxers during his retirement, including Wilfredo Benitez and Juan Laporte, of Puerto Rico. Wilfred Benitez (born September 12, 1958 in New York New York) is a Puerto Rican boxer. Juan Laporte (born November 24, 1959) is a former boxer who was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} Both have won world championships. Griffith, Monzon, Benvenuti, Rodriguez, Tiger, Napoles and Benitez are members of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame. The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall
Assault
In 1992, Griffith was viciously beaten and almost killed on a New York City street, after leaving a gay bar. The City of New York Today, Griffith requires full time care and suffers from pugilistic dementia. Dementia pugilistica ( DP) also called chronic traumatic encephalopathy ( CTE) chronic boxer’s encephalopathy, traumatic boxer’s encephalopathy According to Sports Illustrated, the Alzheimer's-like condition makes him confused about his sexuality, and he sometimes declares himself to be heterosexual, other times he identifies as gay and other times, as bisexual, but one that prefers women. Alzheimer's disease ( AD) also called Alzheimer disease or simply Alzheimer's, is the most common form of Dementia. Bisexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of both sexes or to a bisexual orientation Griffith admits that he has had nightmares for forty years about the tragic bout and still feels tremendous guilt over the death of Benny Paret. In the last scene of Ring Of Fire, Griffith was introduced to Benny Paret's son. The son embraced the elderly fighter and told him he was forgiven. However, Paret's widow Lucy could not bring herself to meet him.
Honors
Named Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year for 1964. The Ring (often called Ring Magazine) is an American Boxing Magazine that was first published in 1922 as a boxing Ring Magazine was established in 1922 Since 1928 it has named a fighter as fighter of the year based on the magazine's writers' criteria
Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in its initial year (1990) and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall The modern World Boxing Hall of Fame (WBHF is located in Riverside, California, United States, in Southern California
| Preceded by Benny (Kid) Paret |
World Welterweight Champion 1 Apr 1961– 30 Sep 1961 |
Succeeded by Benny (Kid) Paret |
| Preceded by Benny (Kid) Paret |
World Welterweight Champion 24 Mar 1962– 21 Mar 1963 |
Succeeded by Luis Rodriguez |
| Preceded by Inaugural Champion |
World Light Middleweight Champion Recognized by Austrian Boxing Board of Control 17 Oct 1962– 1963 Abandons Title |
Succeeded by Denny Moyer Recognized by WBA |
| Preceded by Luis Rodriguez |
World Welterweight Champion 8 Jun 1963– 25 Apr 1966 Vacates |
Succeeded by Curtis Cokes |
| Preceded by Dick Tiger |
World Middleweight Champion 25 Apr 1966– 17 Apr 1967 |
Succeeded by Nino Benvenuti |
| Preceded by Nino Benvenuti |
World Middleweight Champion 29 Sep 1967– 4 Mar 1968 |
Succeeded by Nino Benvenuti |
See also
- List of male boxers
- List of WBC world champions
- List of undisputed boxing champions
- List of boxing triple champions
- Ring Magazine's list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years
External links
Benny "Kid" Paret, born Bernardo Paret ( March 14 1937 - April 3 1962) born in Santa Clara, Cuba, This is a chronological List of World Welterweight Boxing Champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations The World Boxing Association Benny "Kid" Paret, born Bernardo Paret ( March 14 1937 - April 3 1962) born in Santa Clara, Cuba, Benny "Kid" Paret, born Bernardo Paret ( March 14 1937 - April 3 1962) born in Santa Clara, Cuba, This is a chronological List of World Welterweight Boxing Champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations The World Boxing Association Luis Rodriguez or Luis Rodríguez can refer to different people Luis Rodríguez (baseball (born 1980 a baseball player from Venezuela This is a chronological List of World Super Welterweight / Light Middleweight Boxing Champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations The Denny Moyer (born August 8, 1939 in Portland Oregon) is a retired American boxer who held the World Light middleweight title between 1962 and The World Boxing Association (WBA is a Boxing organization that sanctions official matches and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level Luis Rodriguez or Luis Rodríguez can refer to different people Luis Rodríguez (baseball (born 1980 a baseball player from Venezuela This is a chronological List of World Welterweight Boxing Champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations The World Boxing Association Curtis Cokes (born June 16, 1937) is a former boxer from Dallas Texas. Dick Tiger CBE (born Richard Ihetu August 14, 1929 - December 14 1971) was a boxer from Amaigbo This is a chronological List of World Middleweight Boxing Champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations The World Boxing Association Giovanni Benvenuti (born April 26, 1938 in Izola, then Isola) better known as Nino Benvenuti, is an Italian former Giovanni Benvenuti (born April 26, 1938 in Izola, then Isola) better known as Nino Benvenuti, is an Italian former This is a chronological List of World Middleweight Boxing Champions, as recognized by four of the better-known sanctioning organizations The World Boxing Association Giovanni Benvenuti (born April 26, 1938 in Izola, then Isola) better known as Nino Benvenuti, is an Italian former List of WBC world champions is a table showing the world champions certificated by World Boxing Council (WBC This is a list of current and past undisputed champions of Boxing. Triple Champion Club In Boxing a Triple Champion is that fighter that win titles or belts in at least 3 different weights or divisions In 2002, Ring Magazine published a list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years in Boxing, as voted by the magazine's writers BoxReccom is a website dedicated to keep updated records of professional boxers, both male and female.Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic