I never saw the Griffith-Napoles bout although I remember reading about it at the time. That said, Griffith had lost his middleweight crown back to Benvenuti the previous year. Here, he was going back down a weight division to challenge for his old welter title. This was unusual, especially at that time, going down a division. I would have to think that losing the extra weight would have taken something from him, but more than that, he was going up against an outstanding champion in Jose Napoles, who was at the peak of his form. Griff went the distance in a losing effort, but still had enough left to go against Carols Monzon twice for his old middle title in 1971 and again in 1973. I did see both of those fights and the 1973 fight went the limit and I felt that it was a close fight. Monzon, of course, was an ATG, and possibly the greatest of middleweight champions. So to answer the original question of the thread, if Griffith still had enough to give Monzon a close fight in 1973, he surely must have had quite a lot left in 1969.
Jose Napoles was in his total prime after beating Cokes twice, then taking on Emile Griffith, all within 6 months, and followed by Ernie "Red" Lopez 4 months after the Griffith fight. Griffith was not the WW of the mid-60's, but was cagey, and a very capable fighter still. 1969-10-17 : Jose Napoles 144¾ lbs beat Emile Griffith 144½ lbs by UD in round 15 of 15 Location: Forum, Inglewood, California, USA Referee: Dick Young 11-4 Judge: John Thomas 11-3 Judge: Rudy Jordan 9-4 Napoles knocked Griffith down in the 3rd round for a five-count. Napoles's purse: $80,000 Griffith's purse: $40,000 Source: Los Angeles Times "Welterweight champion Jose 'Mantequilla' Napoles of Mexico City, flooring his opponent with a bolo-like right in the 3rd round, went on to win a unanimous decision in 15 rounds over the 5-time former titleholder, Emile Griffith of New York, at the Forum last night. The ex-champ, who vacated the 147 pound division title when he won the middleweight title in '66, fought with a badly bruised and swollen right cheekbone from the 6th round on. But aside from a slight trickle of blood from the nose of Napoles early in the final round neither fighter was seriously damaged. Napoles had the quicker hands and the harder, jolting punches. But Griffith, trailing from the outset, put up a gallant rally in the final rounds but still couldn't cope with the faster Napoles." -Associated Press Unofficial AP scorecard - 10-5 Napoles Unofficial UPI scorecard - 11-2 Napoles Attendance - 15,461 Gate - $194,315 Post fight comments "I figured it would be a tough fight. I never thought of going for a knockout. My object was to outbox, outclass and outpunch him. Griffith is probably the strongest fighter I have ever met." -Jose Napoles "I was in the best shape of my career but I just couldn't get up in the fight. But I must say Napoles is a very good champion." -Emile Griffith
