Emile Griffith dies aged 75

The ko loss to carter was an aberration...I'll bet the house that it would not have happened again,..in fact, after the Tiger victory, I nbelieve that Griffith would have avenged that defeat. Monzon he could do nothing with, but that's ok, cause nobody could. Carter, however, he would have avenged.

 

This incident of Griffith rescuing my sister's friend would have occurred sometime in the very early 1970s. It happened in Manhattan when he encountered a group of young rowdies and it was about to get ugly real fast (maybe it even had started getting ugly). Emile Griffith happened along at that time and chased off the gang. They became friends then and stayed in contact. In fact, the guy once took my sister on a tour of Griffith's apartment in Weehawkin, NJ. We all watched Griffith-Monzon II in 1973 and were rooting for Emile all the way and felt bad when he did not get the decision. So the thug incident must have happened well before 1973 when Griffith was at least still a top contender.

So tragic that a similar incident many years later would just about finish off this great warrior.

R.I.P. Champ!

 

Emile Griffith also appeared on the Tonight Show several times in the late 1960s.

On one show, with Sammy Davis Jr. guest-hosting, they both put on boxing gloves. Sammy did some dancing and moving, then said "That's how we did it in Golden Boy." Emile then said "Now I'll show you how WE do it ..." Sammy then made tracks as the audience roared.

On another show, Emile sang a song that he had just released, "A Little Bit More". The following is a link to the song/record: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NORTHERN-SO...738?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4605a8befa

 

Thanks for the stories. Like many other true greats, Emile seemed a truly nice guy.

And what a treat to hear the man belt it out! A pretty good performance, at moments with a smoothness reminiscent of his skill in the ring.

R.I.P. Champ!

 

Ring of Fire is one of my favourite boxing documentaries. The scene in which he meets Paret's son was very powerful.

Although the word "great" is thrown around a little to easily these days, it applies to Griffith.

 

Vengeance of the type of Terry Norris over Simon Brown or Orlin Norris over Nate Miller is no vengeance.
Not that it is really even a forgone conclusion that he could have achieved it.

 

One of the greatest fighters of all time and one of the nicest fighters of all time.

 

I hear its a good doc. Never saw it. Some report that Paret said an anti gay slur at the weigh in, and the result was a purposefully beating. The referee of the fight never worked again. Decades ago, the stigma of being gay or called gay was far worse that it is today.


Griffith admitted he was gay and bi-***ual.

 

Who knows how much harder he would have punched or how much more aggressive he would have been against others if that fatal bout with Paret never happened. Not sure about him avenging the Carter loss but it is very reasonable that he would have performed a whole lot better a second time. Certainly he was capable of returning the favour to Carter.

Emile on many occasions said he was scared of killing another man in the ring so he backed off the power shots considerably after the Paret fight. Emile might have done a lot more with Monzon too. His mind wasn't the same after the tragedy and he somewhat took the killer instinct out of himself. No question that he didn't bring all of his power his subsequent fights.

His private life shouldn't have been anyone's business.

RIP champ. You were a true all time great.

 

The monzon fight was a washed up emile he was never the same after paret