Emile Griffith tell me about him......

One of the great welters of all-time, on a level with the likes of Mickey Walker and Carmen Basilio, and possibly Gavilan.

 

how do you rank him as a middle also i would have him top 20 at MW also

 

***** as a three dollar bill, but a damn good fighter

 

I would likely say that region as well mate, it's less consistent stuff from him at the weight and he's past it, but still got great wins and is tough for anyone there imo.

 

yeh, i havent aw the first Monzon fight with him was it close as the 2nd one

 

I've never watched the full fight either mate sorry

 

i have it somewhere will watch tommorow

 

Griffith is one of those fighters who has been discussed from every angle and with all kinds of insight for years on this forum.

That's why he doesn't get as much play here as he should.

 

Best first hand source of info available on Griffith was a TV documentary made in 2005 called 'Ring of Fire - the Emile Griffith story'. It was aired in Australia a few months ago, and probably has/will show where you live at some stage.

 

Top 10 Welter ,Top 20 middle, All time consisent all round boxer /puncher trained scietific fighter good hitter!!! Hurt by paret tragedy,fought emall 60s -70s WOW beat welter good ens Moyer, Dupas, Great Looie Rodriquez 2 of 3!!! Christensen, Jorge Fernanadez,Rock em sockem Florentino,Teddy Farmer Wright, Logaart,Middles Don Fullmer, Jose Gonzaelez,Joey Archer TWICE,Benvenuti, fought Monzon classic TWICE, Jose Napoles,Hurricane Carter, Whew loads other TOP notch ! 100 % gave fans are $ money worth lifetime thrills Thanks Emile Griffith SUPER STAR!!!!!!!:happy

 

Joey Archer beat him in there first fight..he was robbed....Griff was a small middle but very good ...he was a flame...liked young guys but tough in the ring....he fought some great fighters and did well as a welter and middle for decades...great fighter

 

What I can tell you about Griffith:

An all-time great, one of the great welters of his or any other day, more of a boxer than a slugger (save for his third fight with Benny "Kid" Paret, whom he killed in the ring [Paret had been referring to Griffith as a "maricon" or "******" in Spanish after he heard about Griffith possibly being gay, which he indeed is gay]). Had one heluva chin and was very quick with all of his punches. A true all-time great if there ever was one.

 

He was a great fighter. After his third fight with Benny Paret where Paret died, Griffith lost his agressive spirit and fought cautiously the rest of his career. His second fight with Monzon was very close and a lot of people thought Griffith won.

http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Gans-Biography-American-Champion/dp/0786439947/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a

 

Indeed he did, Emile was very fortunate to be MSG`s house fighter for many years as he benefitted from some questionable decisions while fighting there, such as against Gaspar Ortega in their first go and most notably vs Luis Rodriguez who imo was his superior and clearly the better fighter of the two. I`ve got all four of their bouts complete and I feel Luis beat him conclusively each time, the first bout especially so and the 4th and final encounter between them while being the closest of the bunch I still had Luis winning it by four points.

The first and third bouts were very bad decisions imo, Luis got shafted badly both times especially in their 3rd bout which I felt he clearly won by five points no less only to get screwed on the cards. Emile was a damn good fighter but I feel was just a **** hair shy of being great, his style while very effective was somewhat predictable, not much offensive variety in his attack either, he did have an excellent jab though which he used to set up most of his offense with and he had underrated power in that right hand of his too.

All in all a good, solid fighter was Emile, but no all-time great unlike his contemporary Luis Rdriguez who I feel is one of THE most underrated and underappreciated fighters in history, this man was something else and on hs best day there are few men at both welter and middle I would pick over him. Look at the man`s resume and the number of genuine full fledged, hard hitting middleweights he faced, and all this while weighing in between 151 and 154 pounds and being the naturally smaller fighter. Not only did he beat them he knocked out several of them and did so in dominating fashion most times... a truly remarkable fighter was Luis.

 

Great post mate. Agree about the Archer and Ortega decisions and having seen the 2nd and 3rd Rodriguez fights, I agree that Luis looked clearly the superior fighter there. That he deserved the 1st and 4th fights comes as no surprise really.

I'd probably still classify Emile as great in virtue of fighting so many excellent fighters and more often than not holding his own if not winning outright, but he does hold too much of a privileged position amongst fight fans, especially for having won the series with Rodriguez.

Agree that Luis was a special fighter too. Outstanding fighter. Made it all look too easy. And way too underappreciated, especially in comparison to Emile.