Emile Griffith - setting the record straight on his close fights

Emile Griffith is a fighter I find it a chore to watch for some reason. He is a great fighter without question, but he bores me to death.

In any case, I'm feeling kinda sadistic right now, so I've set myself the task of reviewing some of his close fights and putting my cards in for them in the hope of setting the record straight somewhat in his career. Who knows, perhaps I'll come out the other end with a greater appreciation for his style of fighting.

I'll put my scores up sporadically, and in no real order, and I invite others to put in their cards or opinions on fights in his career as well.

Let me start with his first fight with Dick Tiger. I have the ESPN version of the fight, which is missing round 5, and oh how crucial that round is to my card.

I had it even at 134 points a piece after watching all the fight bar round 5.

Griffith winning rounds 3,7,8,9 ( 10-8 ) and 13. Tiger winning rounds 4,10,11,12,14 and 15. Rounds 1,2 and 6 being even.

Griffith was the cuter of the two, and outboxed Tiger for a few rounds, but Tiger eventually closed the gap and started to mug him on the inside.

Interestingly, most of the press covering this fight had Tiger the winner....

 

Griffith's second fight with Benny Kid Paret is definitely one of his best from an entertainment standpoint becuase he tries to press the action repeatedly in an attempt to impose himself on Paret. It's filled with action from start to finish. Griffith was the stronger fighter and owned the clinches, and Paret, like a good Cuban, owned the outside with his quick, flurrying hands. Griffith walked through plenty of leather and wasn't hurt at any stage, but he had Paret weak at the knees a few times.

I kinda copped out, scoring the last three rounds even, but even if I had to pick a winner in some of those rounds I would have likely split the 14th and 15th, giving the 14th to Griffith and the 15th to Paret.

My card for the fight: 145-144 Paret

Griffith winning rounds 2,3,4,11 and 12. Paret winning rounds 1,5,7,8,9 and 10. Rounds 6,13,14 and 15 even.

Fight could definitely have gone either way. In hindsight, I'm glad Benny got it before passing away...

 

No one interested?

Ah well, let me continue my monologue.....

I had Griffith's first fight with Joey Archer scored 145-141 in Archer's favour. I gave Griffith rounds 5,9,11,12 and 15. I gave Archer rounds 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,10 and 13. I had round 14 even.

Now it should be noted that the tape I had of this fight was silent, and as such I could not judge the impact of a lot of the punches being landed. Archer landed a lot more imo, and was throwing rapid fire left and right hooks to the body when Emile was able to get past Joey's accurate jab and find himself on the inside. But were they powerful or powderpuff hooks he was throwing? It was hard to tell some of the times. Joey was notoriously a light puncher, and so I'm cautious with the card I've given. Perhaps, with the aid of audio to judge the various noises made by punches landed, I may have reversed my card.

As it stands, given the evidence I have, I think Joey boxed beautifully and deserved the decision. He had great stamina and boxed all 15 rounds at a high pace and didn't allow Griffith to get on top of him or submerge him with the inside grappling and body pounding that Griffith employed.

I would have loved ot have seen Archer take this decision and go up against Benvenuti, would have been an entertaining chess match that one...

 

Ok, I'll discuss a particular stinker, which wasn't all that close either, despite it appearing so on the surface...

I had Griffith's second fight with Monzon scored 145-142 for Monzon.

I gave rounds 2,7,9,10 and 11 to Griffith. I gave rounds 1,3,4,5,6,12,13 and 14 to Monzon. I had rounds 8 and 15 even.

Story of the fight was Monzon pawing with the jab and keeping Griffith out of range, with Griffith never really finding an answer on how to get inside, and not really being able to do much the few times he did get inside. No doubt Monzon's power kept him weary. And no doubt Monzon did as little as need be to get the decision.

 

I'd love to hear an opinion on how the third Griffith-Rodriguez fight went. I know RB and Doc McCoy have this fight complete, so if they could give a score card, it would be much appreciated.

From the seven rounds I've seen (first five and last two) I had it 3 rounds a piece and one even.

 

Hopefully we get an answer.....

In the meantime, another Griffith fight to consider:

I had Griffith's second fight with Joey Archer scored 144-143 for Griffith.

I gave Archer rounds 1,4,5,10,11 and 15. I gave Griffith rounds 2,6,7,8,9,12 and 14. I had rounds 3 and 13 even.

It was a close fight and a draw wouldn't have been a bad call, but Archer gave away too many of the middle rounds to recover. Losing 4 consecutive rounds at the midway point really hurt his chances in this one.

The difference in this fight from the first was that Griffith after about 5 or so rounds decided to take more chances, which meant eating more jabs to get within range and wing away with bombs which did their damage - much more often than he did in the first fight. Griffith got his head jabbed off probably more than in the first fight, but he also landed more damaging punches which ended up being the telling shots of the fight.

Not many fighters would have been willing to repeatedly walk through puches of a bigger foe (looked like a junior middle against a middle in there) in order to land their own. This fight definitely shows Griffith's mettle in that respect.

 

Cheers for the responses. I had Rodriguez taking their second bout by 8 points (147-139) so I'd marvel at Griffith if he could have turned it around so dramatically on my card to take out the third fight....

In any case, I'm sure I'll get to see it one day and form my own opinion on it.

Anyone willing to put up some scores for the Benvenuti fights? I don't have complete copies of any of the fights but I will score the rounds I can (got about 45 min. from the first fight, 30 from the second and am getting about 47 min. of their third fight shortly :good ).

 

Cheers man.:good And I take it both had Tiger winning?

Let us know if you come across any other scorecards for close Griffith fights in the mags if you can.

I assume reading about his fights is slightly less painful than having to watch some of them.