Griffith vs Tiger I: 50 Years Later

[elmersalsa]

It's amazing that in boxing circles and media, no one talk about the fight between the greats Emile Griffith and Dick Tiger. Two of the top 50 ATG pound per pound boxers ever, at their primes, went at it at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on April 25, 1966. A great scrap that went 15 full rounds. Griffith, from the US Virgin Islands, by the way of New York City, won in a close fight in my view by UD. He became a triple crown world titlist. Tiger from Nigeria, via London, England, took the world light heavyweight crown from Jose "Chegui" Torres of Puerto Rico later that year. So, Tiger was still in complete prime.

It is a great damn shame that this fight, is not discussed like it should. Fights that have not even have a footage, for example, Ezzard Charles vs Archie Moore fights, are talked about. But, the Griffith vs Tiger fights? I very seldom hear anybody talking about it.

A great champion jumped 13 pounds and took the middleweight crown of one of the 10 best middleweights ever in my view.

How Tiger was viewed in England? Was he as popular like here in America? I know Griffith was popular at least in New York. He headlined the MSG no less than 30 times. More than any other fighter ever fighting at that venue.

It was Griffith's finest hour.

[yancey]

It's amazing that in boxing circles and media, no one talk about the fight between the greats Emile Griffith and Dick Tiger. Two of the top 50 ATG pound per pound boxers ever, at their primes, went at it at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on April 25, 1966. A great scrap that went 15 full rounds. Griffith, from the US Virgin Islands, by the way of New York City, won in a close fight in my view by UD. He became a triple crown world titlist. Tiger from Nigeria, via London, England, took the world light heavyweight crown from Jose "Chegui" Torres of Puerto Rico later that year. So, Tiger was still in complete prime.

It is a great damn shame that this fight, is not discussed like it should. Fights that have not even have a footage, for example, Ezzard Charles vs Archie Moore fights, are talked about. But, the Griffith vs Tiger fights? I very seldom hear anybody talking about it.

A great champion jumped 13 pounds and took the middleweight crown of one of the 10 best middleweights ever in my view.

How Tiger was viewed in England? Was he as popular like here in America? I know Griffith was popular at least in New York. He headlined the MSG no less than 30 times. More than any other fighter ever fighting at that venue.

It was Griffith's finest hour.

I remember the fight well and also Griffith's first MW defense against Joey Archer several months later.

Griffith was an excellent champion and he was also very tough to beat in MSG.

Tiger's first LH defense was against Torres in MSG. That fight was also nationally televised. It was very close and hotly disputed. After the decision was announced, the bottles started flying from all over into the ring. I remember Dunphy announcing he was getting UNDER the ring and the telecast ending a bit prematurely.

[elmersalsa]

Unbelievable! I guess almost nobody cares about this great fighter that won a SIGNIFICANT FIGHT in the 60s decade. It's a shame. But, what a great boxer Emile Griffith was.

[sweetviolenturge]

Emile Griffith was a great, great fighter with tremendous guts & heart.
He went into the ring that night weighing a buck & a half, giving up full ten pounds to an all time great champ & beat him.
He did what REAL fighters are supposed to do.
Can you imagine if Griffith had demanded that Tiger cut down to 155lbs!
He'd have been laughed at & probably ridiculed by the press for the rest of his career.
But thankfully, such a thing would have never even occurred to Griffith because he was from the era when fighters fought whoever was put in front of them at the weight that the title was to be contested at.
Unlike the silly prima donnas of today.

[yancey]

Emile Griffith was a great, great fighter with tremendous guts & heart.
He went into the ring that night weighing a buck & a half, giving up full ten pounds to an all time great champ & beat him.
He did what REAL fighters are supposed to do.
Can you imagine if Griffith had demanded that Tiger cut down to 155lbs!
He'd have been laughed at & probably ridiculed by the press for the rest of his career.
But thankfully, such a thing would have never even occurred to Griffith because he was from the era when fighters fought whoever was put in front of them at the weight that the title was to be contested at.
Unlike the silly prima donnas of today.

Yep, that era back then was so much better than it is today.

Good post.

[littlepug]

my old amatuer trainers claim to fame was that he beat a guy that beat dick tiger (cant remember who ), he was very proud of this

[Syntax Error]

Emile Griffith was a great, great fighter with tremendous guts & heart.
He went into the ring that night weighing a buck & a half, giving up full ten pounds to an all time great champ & beat him.
He did what REAL fighters are supposed to do.
Can you imagine if Griffith had demanded that Tiger cut down to 155lbs!
He'd have been laughed at & probably ridiculed by the press for the rest of his career.
But thankfully, such a thing would have never even occurred to Griffith because he was from the era when fighters fought whoever was put in front of them at the weight that the title was to be contested at.
Unlike the silly prima donnas of today.

Amen to this.

[scorpio83]

Emile Griffith was a great, great fighter with tremendous guts & heart.
He went into the ring that night weighing a buck & a half, giving up full ten pounds to an all time great champ & beat him.
He did what REAL fighters are supposed to do.
Can you imagine if Griffith had demanded that Tiger cut down to 155lbs!
He'd have been laughed at & probably ridiculed by the press for the rest of his career.
But thankfully, such a thing would have never even occurred to Griffith because he was from the era when fighters fought whoever was put in front of them at the weight that the title was to be contested at.
Unlike the silly prima donnas of today.

Amen to this.

I strongly agree. A prime middleweight version of Griffith would out-box and out-punch Canelo the diva, who never fought any real middleweights in their prime outside of fighting smaller guys.

[PredatorHayds]

Emile Griffith was a great, great fighter with tremendous guts & heart.
He went into the ring that night weighing a buck & a half, giving up full ten pounds to an all time great champ & beat him.
He did what REAL fighters are supposed to do.
Can you imagine if Griffith had demanded that Tiger cut down to 155lbs!
He'd have been laughed at & probably ridiculed by the press for the rest of his career.
But thankfully, such a thing would have never even occurred to Griffith because he was from the era when fighters fought whoever was put in front of them at the weight that the title was to be contested at.
Unlike the silly prima donnas of today.

Amen to this.

I strongly agree. A prime middleweight version of Griffith would out-box and out-punch Canelo the diva, who never fought any real middleweights in their prime outside of fighting smaller guys.

Disagree. I'd back GGG over Griffith at middleweight.

Emile had good wins at middle but was a far superior welterweight.
If Fullmer beats him convincingly then so does GGG.

[elmersalsa]

Amen to this.

I strongly agree. A prime middleweight version of Griffith would out-box and out-punch Canelo the diva, who never fought any real middleweights in their prime outside of fighting smaller guys.

Disagree. I'd back GGG over Griffith at middleweight.

Emile had good wins at middle but was a far superior welterweight.
If Fullmer beats him convincingly then so does GGG.

I agree that the great Gene Fullmer would be the favorite to beat the great Emile Griffith at 160lbs, but, Griffith never fought Gene. You probably is confusing Fullmer's fight with Benny "Kid" Paret.

Griffith was not consistent at middleweight as he was at welterweight, but, he was hard to beat if he was in great shape.

[PredatorHayds]

I strongly agree. A prime middleweight version of Griffith would out-box and out-punch Canelo the diva, who never fought any real middleweights in their prime outside of fighting smaller guys.

Disagree. I'd back GGG over Griffith at middleweight.

Emile had good wins at middle but was a far superior welterweight.
If Fullmer beats him convincingly then so does GGG.

I agree that the great Gene Fullmer would be the favorite to beat the great Emile Griffith at 160lbs, but, Griffith never fought Gene. You probably is confusing Fullmer's fight with Benny "Kid" Paret.

Griffith was not consistent at middleweight as he was at welterweight, but, he was hard to beat if he was in great shape.

I didn't say Gene. He fought his brother Don and lost convincingly.
If Don beats him then I think GGG does aswell.

[Ambling Alp II]

At his best, Griffith was about as good at middleweight as welterweight. He is overrated at welter and underrated at middle.

[scorpio83]

Disagree. I'd back GGG over Griffith at middleweight.

Emile had good wins at middle but was a far superior welterweight.
If Fullmer beats him convincingly then so does GGG.

I agree that the great Gene Fullmer would be the favorite to beat the great Emile Griffith at 160lbs, but, Griffith never fought Gene. You probably is confusing Fullmer's fight with Benny "Kid" Paret.

Griffith was not consistent at middleweight as he was at welterweight, but, he was hard to beat if he was in great shape.

I didn't say Gene. He fought his brother Don and lost convincingly.
If Don beats him then I think GGG does aswell.

Griffith split his two fights with Don Fullmer, won the first and lost the second. Anyways, I strongly agree with Predator that GGG would beat a middleweight Griffith, but it would hard for him to knock him out as Griffith lost to Rubin "Hurricane" Carter while he was still welterweight champion and was stopped by the great Carlos Monzon in a controversial fashion in their first fight after Griffith's post two reigns as middleweight champion.