Joe Gans speaking on Young Griffo

Joe Gans, speaking on Young Griffo...as quoted by the Washington Post on July 9, 1899 -

“I’ll never forget my experience in the ring with that Kid Griffo. We met in the ring at the Olympic Club at Athens, Pa., and it was agreed that we were to divide the purse, win or lose. I trained for three weeks for the bout, and when I got a flash at Griffo in his corner I noticed that a fold of fat wobbled over his belt. He was in fit condition for a sanitarium instead of a prize ring, and I told Herford [Al Herford, Joe Gans' manager] that I would make short work of the Australian phenom, as they called him. We were to go fifteen rounds, and I thought I could do Griff in about three punches at the wind. I had an idea that he would keep away from me, but that’s where he fooled me. You would naturally think that a man in his condition would steer away from a punch, but he crowded me from the first tap of the gong.

“He clearly outboxed me, but every time he tapped me I smiled at him. ‘See here, old chap,’ he said, ‘I’m out for a draw, and don’t get awfully rude with me because I ‘av a bloomink pain in me stomach and if you slam me once in the body it will be all off. So don’t get rude, and be a gentleman.’ I tried my prettiest to bore a stomach punch into him, but I only caught him on the glove at every trial, and then I switched my tactics and tried for his jaw, but he was inside of me at every punch, and when I led he stepped inside and showered a rain of taps with both hands. He had me tired once, I will admit, and it looked to me as if every one in the crowd was throwing boxing gloves at me. It’s a pity that a boxer of his talent never took care of himself, as he was the greatest defensive boxer that ever lived, and the most peculiar feature of his defense was that he was up and at the opponent all the time, fighting close on the inside of the guard. They talk about Fitzsimmons as a fighting machine, but as a mechanical boxer Fitz never classed with Griffo.”

 

A knock on the Hotel door. Les opens it. It is the young hotel porter, a painfully thin Negro, and he is deeply sorry suh, but there is someone downstairs who is insisting on seeing Mistuh Darcy. Sez he is an Oss-tralian, too. And he used to be a boxer. The thing is, Mistuh Darcy, it is difficult to know much of him, ‘cos he might be drunk, but he sez his name is ‘Griff’, ‘Griffa’, sum’n like that?

Young Griffo? The boxing hero of Australia, who had left home shores in 1893 never to return? Great! Show him up! But Mistuh Darcy, he very drunk, not too good dressed, terrible, rotten, black teeth, and thuh hotel probably wouldn’t want likes of him in the building… Fine, but please get him!

And so the young porter does, returning shortly afterwards and furtively pushing a fat old drunk man into Mistuh Darcy’s room before skedaddling. He is going to catch hell from management, if they find out.

And so there they are, Les Darcy and Young Griffo—each a hero before heading to America to seek their international fame and fortune—meeting in a New York hotel room in the early days of 1917.

They talk.

The fact that ‘Young Griffo’ is no longer young is obvious, as is the fact that the young porter hadn’t been exaggerating in his description. Griffo’s teeth are terrible, he reeks of alcohol, and is evidently doing it very tough indeed. These days one of his tricks to get more alcohol is to take a handkerchief into a bar, stand on it and bet someone that they can’t lay a single punch on him for a whole minute while he doesn’t take a step off the hankie, but simply dodges and ducks all their blows! No, he couldn’t win a real fight in the ring these days, but by God he can still keep himself in grog.

They laugh and talk. Les is delighted to meet this Australian legend, and later tips the porter a quarter, telling the disbelieving young man that the ‘fat old alko’—as the porter would later describe Griffo, whom he brought up to Les’s room—was once one of the greatest featherweight boxers of them all.

(Peter Fitzsimons)

 

here are a handful of original newspaper clippings on griffos death that i uploaded to the blog.

it would be much more appropriate to just put the articles in the thread rather than directing people to the blog...but this forum won't let me embed images in posts.

click on each clipping for a larger, more readable image...

http://classicboxingsociety.blogspot.com/2015/02/1922.html