Emile Griffith, the great New York-based middleweight champion of the 1960s whose career was marred by the deadly beating he administered to Benny “Kid” Paret, died in his sleep Monday night. He was 75.
Griffith, an artful fighter with a lightning jab, is probably best known for his lethal third fight against Paret at Madison Square Garden on March 24, 1962, for the welterweight championship. In the 12th round, Griffith knocked out Paret, who left the ring unconscious on a stretcher and died of his brain injuries 10 days later.
The two had grown up playing basketball together in the school yards of New York. But before their third bout, Paret had called Griffith a derogatory word in Spanish for homosexual. Griffith would later reveal in his 2008 autobiography that he had been bisexual through his teens. Griffith was angered by Paret’s slur.
“Whether Benny was urged to do it by one of his corner men, we’ll never know, but Emile was shocked. He was filled with rage,” said Ron Ross, who co-wrote Griffith’s autobiography, “Nine, Ten, and Out! The Two Worlds of Emile Griffith.” “But he always said it was never hate. It was ironic that he was a person who wound up killing a person in the ring because he was not that kind of fighter. He didn’t go in there with hate and rage. Boxing was always an athletic event to him.”
The grim outcome altered the course of Griffith’s Hall of Fame career. Fans turned against him, television networks shied away from the sport and Griffith became shy in the ring, pursuing victories by decision rather than knockout.
“I was never the same fighter after that,” he said in the 2005 documentary, “Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story.” “After that fight, I did enough to win. I would use my jab all the time. I never wanted to hurt the other guy. I would have quit, but I didn’t know how to do anything else but fight.”
Born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands on Feb. 3, 1938, Emile Alphonse Griffith compiled a record of 85-24-2 with 23 knockouts during a career that spanned from 1958-1977, from the New York Golden Gloves to a Hall of Fame induction in 1990.
He became the first fighter from the U.S. Virgin Islands to become a world champion when he captured the welterweight title by beating Paret in 1961, though he lost the rematch. He won the light middleweight title in 1962, and later made his career as a middleweight, first winning the championship in 1966 by beating Dick Tiger at the Garden. He was a staple of Garden boxing, often defending his belt there.
“When you look at boxing history, he was one of the greats not just in New York boxing history but the history of boxing, period,” said promoter Lou DiBella.
Griffith initially wanted no part of boxing until he was convinced by his manager/trainer Gil Clancy it was an art form.
“He was good at anything he did,” Ross said. “He just had this athletic ability. Through grace and power, he was able to excel at anything he did.”
Ross learned of Griffith’s death yesterday morning when he got a call from Griffith’s adopted son, Luis Rodrigo Griffith. Emile Griffith had been living at an extended care facility in Nassau County for the last couple of years in what Ross described as a “vegetative state.” Griffith had been in declining healthy since 1992, when he was mugged and viciously beaten after leaving a gay bar.
“It was so disheartening, so depressing to visit him,” Ross said. “He was fed through a feeding tube. He would just lay there sleeping. They’d keep the TV on, but there was never any recognition of anyone or anything.”
Ross prefers to remember Griffith when he was smiling and entertaining.
“He was an entertainer at whatever he did,” Ross said. “Whether it was in the ring or with a microphone in his hand at a party, he was just a social animal. He was a wonderful person to be around.”
DiBella called Griffith “a trailblazer” for speaking out about his bisexuality.
“It’s pretty courageous that he came out of the closet as an elderly person,” DiBella said. “Those rumors had followed around Emile for years. But as a senior citizen he told his story.”