'I kill a man and most forgive me... I love a man and many say this makes me an evil person.'

Paret called Griffith a foggot at the weigh in and rubbed up behind him to the point Griffith said he couldnt move backwards. Then during the fight Clancey instructed him to keep punching no matter what. That the ropes Goldstein and you had a tragic death which haunted Griffith basically the rest of his life. He got some closure when he met Parets son who forgave him. His wife would not as shown in the documentary.
Griffith was then almost beat to death as he was leaving a gay bar I think early 2000's not sure. He was never the same after that.
By all accounts he was a universally very well liked..respected and accepted man as most boxing insiders knew he liked both men and women. If he came out back then his career would have been ruined today it would be alot different adleast to the press.
To each his own. Griffith style never did anything for me but it's a shame the man had to carry those burdens on his back.

 

Very tragic, and he makes a very good point about how sexuality is such a huge deal in america. Even a woman breastfeeding gets yelled at and harassed but we let our kids see gruesome violence all the time. Music, movies, games, etc and ignore the warning labels! The worst part is the hypocrisy: there are billboards and magazine of women with exposed cleavage or men in Speedos but we're Very selective about when we'll be "outraged".

 

I personally don't care what a fighter does behind closed doors. Their sexual politics don't interest me at all. This business about Griffith...it's the furthest thing from my mind...but it is a cautionary tale....that is, if some fighter wants to run his mouth in the press, or lets say, a weigh-in....and imply that a man is a "******", "*****", or whatever the term may be,...lets just say that he's playing with fire to say the very least, and may have to pay a very high, steep price for being indiscreet and running his mouth...just like Benny Paret did. Griffith, I'll bet dollars to donuts, didn't intend to kill Benny Paret, but what more dangerous place in the world can you be with the man whose manhood you have slandered than in the ring? Griffith was told to "keep punching", and that's sure as hell what he did. Fighters with antagonistic personalities, and big, trash talking, flapping gums, should take notice that what you sow is the very thing that you might have to reap.

 

I think the tragedy of the Paret fight has been exploited by the writers who've made a huge thing of the "bad blood" and the fact Paret got under Griffith's skin about being a homosexual.
It was a fight and ended in a brutal way and tragically there resulted a fatality.
This narrative that hatred on both sides was the main cause is overstated. It's sensationalism.
It was a professional boxing match.

 

I think you completely misunderstand the meaning behind what I posted...just admit it

 

One of the things lost in the sensationalism is that there was a very real lesson the sport needed to learn from that tragic outcome, and that's the importance of recovery.
Benny took a hellacious beating from Gene Fullmer only 3 months prior and had no business being in the ring with someone of Griffith's caliber so soon afterward.

 

Absolutely perfect.

Sensationalism. These things happen.

 

Yes Benny should have been looked after. Three months was way too soon.

But I’ve seen the footage of the ending of the Grithit fight, if Parat hadn’t had died it really would not have gone down as a bad knockout. It happened in moments. Morrison took worse from Mercer.

 

I've been aware of Paret's brutal ko defeat to Gene Fullmer so soon before the Griffith bout for a very long time my friend...a very long time...but if you don't think that Emile Griffith didn't release any pent up rage with that "maricon" episode, aided and abetted by a referee who chose to stand by and be a spectator, then you believe in the tooth fairy. Benny Paret may have survived had there been an alert, competent referee and had he not exacerbated the fury of Griffith's attack, which had "revenge" all over it.

 

No I don’t believe in the tooth fairy, but I do believe professional fighters no what to do without pent up frustration. It’s their job to do what needs to be done as efficiently as possible. If anything temper can tip into unprofessionalism.

Do you blame Ruby? He did not have much time to react.

 

No. Not even close. The Paret beating was far more prolonged, and that's what counts. Ruby Goldstein was either completely bloodthirsty or a total incompetent.

 

Revenge in the sense that Emile Griffith wanted his title back. He had let the title slip away from his hands in their previous fight by fighting too cautiously and allowing it to go the the judges' score cards. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

 

I don’t think Ruby was really to blame. Benny seemed to tire very quickly. If you looked for the correct moment to dive in and stop it you would only be using hindsight to make that judgment.

Even if that had of happened away from the corner, and it had of been stopped after far less blows, Benny might have walked out of the ring but could still have slipped into a coma later on that night. It’s getting punched in the head repeatedly when the guy is totally dried out and exhausted that does it.. and there must have been a tear or damage from the Fullmer fight, which really was a disgusting spectacle and poorly refereed.

Replays show his knees buckled from a long right before the actual onslaught. A few right crosses had Benny almost helpless just as he went to the corner. From that point the camera has a better view than the referee. Even using the view from the camera the moment to really stop it was when the uppercuts came in, but in the time it took to react Emile had those extra shots going which were pretty fast - and didn’t all land. The time it took to see it, Emile landed those extra ones. It was tragic.

Every fighter who ever hit Benny played a part in what happened. Emile was just the last guy to hit him. It’s a tough sport.