BoxRec

He was before my time but heard nothing but great things about, true warrior, true champion, endless energy, fought the best, usually 5 rounds, all class, long career. Wonderful documentary about him recently produced by Dan Klores. Saw him at some fights, was always smiling and happy to mingle with loving fans. Special guy, special champion. RIP Emile.

Pretty cool interview with Emile sums up his life and career. Just an awesome bloke...

http://spam.com/articles/emile-griffith-biofile

RIP.

RIP champ

Very sorry to hear this. I remember well his two fights with Archer and three with Benvenuti.

Always seemed like a happy guy, but no doubt affected by the Paret tragedy.

RIP, Emile.

May you rest in peace champ. One of the true fighters that ever put on the gloves of a brutal sport like boxing has left us. What a fighter. A true all time great.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/boxing/em ... 32443.html

Great fighter and a better person. RIP

RIP to a borderline top 10 ATG. He's widely recognized as that, but imo he actually gets underrated on lists. There are people out there that would tell you a Bob Foster was greater than this legend. He and El Feo are both Boxing Gods.

great fighter...one of the greatest ever welters ever. loved to watch him on tv. good boxer, good chin and good puncher. i was impressed by the way he could fight a taller fighter and out jab him. should have picked some kind of title...not a major one...when he was robbed against a guy in germany. forget his name.

emile was in a lot of split decisions .....i think because his style was subtle and not always given credit for his excellent work inside. never the same after the paret fight.

rip

Jaclem wrote:great fighter...one of the greatest ever welters ever. loved to watch him on tv. good boxer, good chin and good puncher. i was impressed by the way he could fight a taller fighter and out jab him. should have picked some kind of title...not a major one...when he was robbed against a guy in germany. forget his name.

emile was in a lot of split decisions .....i think because his style was subtle and not always given credit for his excellent work inside. never the same after the paret fight.

rip

You're talking about the Dagge MD, right?

...yeah rover, that's the one. thanks.

RIP Emile. Great fighter and a chill guy

RIP Champ.

A truly great fighter who was an amazing athlete and a dedicated boxer.

Certainly a top 10 all-time welterweight. A top 25 p4p fighter, or like Saad says a borderline top 10 guy.

The master of the close decision.

His last fight was against Alan Minter who in an interview had nothing but good things to say about him.

Only saw Griffith once in person.
That was his anticipated match against rising welterweight sensation Armando Muniz in southern California.
Griffith had recently been stopped by Monzon and Muniz was undefeated, with only a draw against Shotgun Albarado to mar his record. Many in L.A. thought the tough Muniz would wear down the older man.
But Griffith put on a boxing clinic that night, surviving some shakey moments early in the bout when he was caught and staggered by a left hook.
After that, the cagey Griffith made Mando look like the neophyte he stills, popping him with jabs, landing right hands at will, and expertly tying up Muniz when he occcasionally battled inside.
The decision was a formality as the former champ took at least 8 rounds. What an outstanding ring technician.
Goodbye Emile Griffith.

Nile4000 wrote:Great fighter who, unfortunately, for his time, was gay.Read somewhere that he was sexually abused as a youth in a detention home.R.I.P Emile.

I never knew about the abuse. So sad.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:RIP to a borderline top 10 ATG. He's widely recognized as that, but imo he actually gets underrated on lists. There are people out there that would tell you a Bob Foster was greater than this legend. He and El Feo are both Boxing Gods.

Tough guy to rate within a specific division as his accomplishments at welter were greater than at middle but I actually think his best wins were at middleweight. Just as I rate Langford the best light heavyweight of all time, Emile could be said to be the greatest junior middle of all time (which would've been his natural division).

dempseyfire wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:RIP to a borderline top 10 ATG. He's widely recognized as that, but imo he actually gets underrated on lists. There are people out there that would tell you a Bob Foster was greater than this legend. He and El Feo are both Boxing Gods.

Tough guy to rate within a specific division as his accomplishments at welter were greater than at middle but I actually think his best wins were at middleweight. Just as I rate Langford the best light heavyweight of all time, Emile could be said to be the greatest junior middle of all time (which would've been his natural division).

Griffith/McCallum would've been terrific.

RIP champ. You were a true warrior and more than deserve your place in the IBHOF.

so underrated - knew his way around the ring better than 99% of the fighters who regularly get the top 10 places. this guy could teach many young up-coming hopefuls how its done.

RIP champ - one of the greats

Emile Griffith's career read like a who's who of the welterweight & middleweight divisions of his time.

Paret, Tiger, Carter, Dupas, Rodriguez, Benvenutti, Monzon, Napole, Briscoe, he did not beat them all but he ducked nobody. Vale, Champ.

Il Duce wrote:I met Emile Griffith in July 1970.

He was part of a Sports Signing with Dick Tiger at the Baldwin Place Mall, Baldwin Place New York.

Both men were gentleman, and signed autographs for about the 400 or so that showed up to the
event.

Emile and Dick were set to meet at Madison Square Garden two-weeks later.

Both were gentlemen, indeed. Lots of respect here for both. Old school.

btw, I don't recall that rematch. I'll have to look it up.

Sad to hear. He did have a good long life. Great fighter.