Emile Griffith dies aged 75

Just saw it on Ring website. Told my dad and he said he remembered him more for training Wilfred Benitez. Been meaning to look up some of his fights, any recommendations?

 

In a perfect world, we would remember Emile Griffith as one of the ten best welterweight boxers to have ever fought inside the ring. In a perfect world, we'd honor the manner in which he was able to overcome faster and stronger and more gifted opponents through guile, through technical acumen, and through an uncanny ability to force his foes to wage the kind of battle that HE wanted to wage.

In a perfect world, Griffith would be remembered as a classy operator inside the squared circle, and, by all accounts, for being equally classy outside the ropes. A fighter like this deserves to be remembered that way when they slip the bonds of this mortal coil, and in a perfect world, that's how Griffith should be honored now that his death has just been announced.

Of course, this isn't a perfect world, and it's likely that Emile Griffith will be remembered for something else...

It's likely that he'll be remembered by most as being the fighter who beat his most hated rival (Benny "Kid" Paret) to death in the ring because the latter used homophobic slurs to insult him in the lead-up to their third and deciding contest. As it turned out, Griffith was indeed gay, and in a perfect world, that shouldn't and wouldn't have mattered. Ideally, Emile should have just shrugged off the insults, and gone about the business of winning the fight. But, it was hardly a perfect world then (or now), and those insults DID matter to Griffith; and it was his desire to avenge them that ultimately led to a scenario where he beat his foe pretty badly and then proceeded to bludgeon him with an extended series of unanswered punches as the referee inexplicably looked on.

This fight was shown on national TV, and the image of Paret collapsing limply into a ball in the corner as he slipped into a coma was scorched in the minds of a lot of people. And, unfortunately for Griffith, he was remembered by everyone as the guy who caused that to happen.

That's probably how a lot of people will remember him...and, sadly, that's to be expected. It's not a perfect world, after all.

And, now this world's a little less perfect...Because fighters (and human beings) like this aren't easily replaced- and should be appreciated that much more when they take their final bow.

RIP champ. You'll be missed.

 

RIP he was a all time great

 

This sums it up.

 

outside of Patterson, my favorite fighter ever! Started (thru my dad) following boxing in the late 50's - early 60, so those two were obviously in the spotlight at the time and I gravitated to both of them.
Sadly he lost his aggressiveness after killing Benny but still gave us years of excitement. I was with my Monzon bud during their 2nd fight and I was screaming for a decision for Emile! Probably not but, as Monzon said, Griffith might have been my toughest opponent because he made me do things that I didn't want to do. Especially with 12 round title fights now, Griffith will hold the record for all time as the fighter who fought the greatest number of championship rounds in history!
RIP CHAMP!!!

 

R.I.P. Champ...

 

A true class act and gentleman, not to mention a great champion. Emile Griffith once rescued one of my sister's friends from a gang of thugs. Prayers for his family and friends.

 

tbooze.....dage is the name of the guy i've been trying to think of. i thought emile won that fight..and was impressed by the way he outjabbed his taller opponent. i think he held the record for being in the most split decisions. if not the record he was close.

great fighter.

 

Ten gongs for one of the greats.

 

When? Would you please elaborate?

Griffith has now entered boxing immortality. Rest in peace, smooth operator.

 

I assume that he could have had an even greater record if not for the outcome of the 3rd Paret fight. I do believe that he did become more gun shy due to it and could have had more stoppage wins and could have been more renowned for his punching power.
Besides of what he did to Paret he also floored Richard Ihetu.
At least in Griffith's case out of his medieval era, I believe that his fights were for real.
A true great fighter somewhere around Ihetu's level and not far from Ezzard Charles.
At least when Griffith was stopped, it was either by a bigger and younger man in Monzon and even then it was not easy for Monzon, or by a somewhat bigger man in Rubin Carter, which does hurt Griffith's ranking for me more than his 1st fight against Monzon.

 

I have a good friend that sparred many, many rounds with griffith in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He thought that Griffith was one of the very best welterweights of all-time, a true genius in the ring. He also said that he was always a gentle man.

 

A shame that he's remembered by many for the fatal Paret fight, and not the great division jump 15 round decision victory over Dick Tiger and other notable accomplishments in his career. He was a favorite of mine and one of the principle reasons that I became a lifelong boxing fan. I was also priveliged to communicate with him a few times on FB. He was a very nice man in addition to being a classy, great champion. R.I.P. Champ!!!!