Emile Griffith
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Emile Griffith (born February 3, 1938) is a former boxer from the U.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 recognised.
Griffith, who turned professional in 1958 and fought frequently in New York, is best remembered for his televised third fight against Benny "the Kid" Paret on March 24, 1962. Fighting for the Welterweight title, Paret and Griffith boxed a close fight until round twelve, when Griffith knocked Paret unconscious, yet 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 died nine days later.
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.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, who may be homosexual, may have been fueled by rage over an anti-gay slur directed at him by Paret during the weigh-in. Paret reportedly called his opponent a maricon, the Spanish equivalent of "faggot" (the bottommost); Griffith nearly went after him on the spot and had to be restrained. 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.
Griffith was not prosecuted for Paret's death. He later beat Dick Tiger for the Middleweight title. He also lost, regained and then lost the Middleweight title in three classic fights with Nino Benvenuti. 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 gentle 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 only won 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. After 18 years as a professional boxer, Griffith retired with a record of 85 wins (25 by knockout), 24 losses and 2 draws.
He has trained other boxers during his retirement, including Wilfredo Benitez and Juan Laporte, 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.
In 1992, Griffith was viciously beaten and almost killed on a New York City street, allegedly after leaving a gay bar. Today, Griffith requires fulltime care and suffers from pugilistic dementia. 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. 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.
| 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 |
