One of my favorite fights. A massive and underrated achievement for Emile Griffith..rising from welterweight and giving up 10 lbs to defeat a highly respected, great middleweight champion in Dick Tiger. Griffith boxed like a master in cleverly and adroitly outboxing the strong man from Nigeria (Biafra if you will) for the most part..and became the first man to deck Tiger in the 9th round. Again, this leap from welter to middle to me is more significant than the many "half-step" multi-divisional title acquisitions that so many modern day champions have achieved..done the old-fashioned way, from major division to major division. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImtLe0nkqBA[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjyPVwQkTrg&feature=relmfu[/ame] [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WUhJdaF-lQ&feature=relmfu[/ame]
Probably his greatest victory. I had him splitting the lmr series 2 each but he deserved to beat tiger and this victory was truly great.
Hey man:thumbsup..I'm glad you appreciate this like I do...Griffith looked great in this fight IMO..and a major achievement jumping up in weight to fight a baddass like Tiger..
A glaring ommision on my part!! Thank you McGrain..so glad you did the good work here..this is one of my alltime favorite fights, ..made me a huge fan of Emile Griffith.:thumbsup
Griffith fought a spirited, educated fight, but the scoring of the bout was a cause of concern. The three judges disagreed on no less than nine of the fifteen rounds. Many thought Tiger was unlucky not to retain his belt.
It was indeed very close..Tiger was the aggressor and had many thinking he had retained the crown. It all came down to style,..effective boxing on Griffith's part..he looked just great in this fight and I think he deserved the nod, personally. It's amazing hiw strong he looked at times against the 10 lb heaver, very strong Tiger. A very aesthetically pleasing fight IMO>
I wouldn't worry too much about the scoring controversy, afterall, the fight is here to be watched and scored yourself :good
Don't know about all those rounds disagreed on, but it makes no difference to me anyway. I think the decision was fair and just..though I may be somewhat prejudiced here..I just love Griffith's style here...and remember..this same Dick Tiger was just coming off of one of his best wins over Giardello to regain the crown, and he would go on in his very next fight to echo Griffith's acheivement in a way in twice beating Jose Torres. ..so this victory of Griffith's is even more significant, IMO.Meaning that this wasn't quite a "shot" Tiger that Griff was facing.