BoxRec

Brute wrote:

perfect jet wrote:I asked respected journo/historian Cliff Rold (who has a vote on The Ring ratings) for his opinion on this list.

His reply was that Young Griffo was ahead of both of them.

The trick with Griffo was keeping him off the piss. He was a great boxer but a terrible alcoholic.

he died in America pennyless didn't he?

toppity wrote:

Brute wrote:

perfect jet wrote:I asked respected journo/historian Cliff Rold (who has a vote on The Ring ratings) for his opinion on this list.

His reply was that Young Griffo was ahead of both of them.

The trick with Griffo was keeping him off the piss. He was a great boxer but a terrible alcoholic.

he died in America pennyless didn't he?

I am not sure if he was penniless. He did not believe in spending any of the roughly $100,000 he earned (a fortune in the late nineteenth/early twentieth century) on a nice house, he was living in a basement room in New York city when he died. There was a story of him leaving the scene after his fight with Kid Lavigne in 1895 with only $500 of his $1500 purse, saying "Enough,sir, enough! What do you think I am, a bloomin' 'orse?" He did not return for the rest. Arithmetic was not one of his strong points.

In a tribute to Griffo from the March 6, 1916, Tacoma Daily News, written by Tommy Sullivan: "Not known as much of a puncher, but his skill was uncanny. He had wonderful headwork, almost inpenetrable defense, dazzling feints, and rapid two-handed methods of attack. The cleverest boxers and hardest punchers were made to look ridiculous when exchanging swats with him. He had a dislike of training and was deemed lazy. There were times he got drunk before a match [such as the Ike Weir and Tommy Tracy bouts]."

Far as I know Griffo did die penniless. I think it was Doc Kearns and Jack Dempsey that paid for his funeral to save him being buried in a pauper's grave

There were also a couple of rather unsavoury aspect of his character regarding boys

tex rickard paid for griffo's funeral

jackson wrote:tex rickard paid for griffo's funeral

I stand corrected

bollox wrote:Far as I know Griffo did die penniless. I think it was Doc Kearns and Jack Dempsey that paid for his funeral to save him being buried in a pauper's grave

There were also a couple of rather unsavoury aspect of his character regarding boys

i struggle with comments like this tbh. Even Brute isn't old enough to know if these veiled accusations are true so i want to believe they are not. I know it seems as if i want to believe the best about one of our greatest but i have no option without fact. if there are facts about it then fine, but otherwise i want to remember him as a great fighter.

toppity wrote:

bollox wrote:Far as I know Griffo did die penniless. I think it was Doc Kearns and Jack Dempsey that paid for his funeral to save him being buried in a pauper's grave

There were also a couple of rather unsavoury aspect of his character regarding boys

i struggle with comments like this tbh. Even Brute isn't old enough to know if these veiled accusations are true so i want to believe they are not. I know it seems as if i want to believe the best about one of our greatest but i have no option without fact. if there are facts about it then fine, but otherwise i want to remember him as a great fighter.

I agree, If there are no facts id think its best not to comment on things like that. Whenit could be completly false.

Nobody wants to think this shit is true. But sometimes it is

http://www.antekprizering.com/griffosummeri.html

interesting read.

bollox wrote:Flat on his back against who? I don't think any featherweight of the time would have beaten him. Esparagosa would have given him a good fight and i was hoping it's happen yet it never did. It was also a pity a Barry McGuigan fight at 126 didn't happen

Agreed that he should have unified both the 122 and 126 titles as he had it in him

sorry mate........was posting about the title of the thread.....fenech v tszyu......