Emile Griffith vs. Nessim Max Cohen (1st meeting)

Emile Griffith 156 lbs beat Nessim Max Cohen 160 lbs by UD in round 10 of 10

• Date: 1971-07-26
• Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA
• Referee: Jimmy Devlin 7-3
• Judge: Artie Aidala 9-1
• Judge: Jack Gordon 6-4

"Emile Griffith, the former five-time world champion came through to chalk up his 10th consecutive triumph by completely outclassing Nessim 'Max' Cohen of France Monday night at MSG in a 10 round middleweight fight. The French champion acquired a slight cut under his right eye in the opening round and another cut under his left eye in the 5th round, while absorbing a decisive defeat." -Associated Press

• Unofficial AP scorecard - 7-2-1 Griffith
• Griffith had already signed to fight Carlos Monzon in Argentina on September 18th for the world title, but had to win this bout to receive the title shot.
• After this bout the MSG fans were able to watch the Muhammad Ali v Jimmy Ellis bout live from Houston.
• Attendance - 13,500
• Gate - $154,071

Post fight comment

• "Cohen is a good strong fighter but I really couldn't fight my fight against him because I was afraid of getting butted. That's all I needed. A serious cut and the Monzon fight would've been off." -Emile Griffith