Young Griffo vs. Young Pluto (7th meeting)

Young Griffo drew with Young Pluto by PTS in round 70

• Date: 1889-12-12
• Location: Melbourne Athletic Club, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Referee: William Power

Nat Fleischer, “Young Griffo: The Will -O’-The -Wisp of the Roped Square,” 1928:

It was in the first two years of his boxing career that Griffo fought what he termed were some of his hardest battles, the greatest being with a husky negro, Young Pluto, otherwise known as Joe Brown. This colored lad from Melbourne gave Griffo considerable trouble. They met five times and the results were draws of eight, six, twenty-three, thirteen and seventy rounds, respectively.

There was much controversy over these fights, especially the seventy-round affair, which the majority of Australian critics thought Griffo easily won, but which it was decided would end in a draw if the contestants were on their feet at the end of the bout. According to a letter recently written by Joe Brown to the Sydney Referee, he insists that the bout went seventy-five rounds and that he had the better of the milling, but newspaper clippings of the time, in possession of the writer, show otherwise. In referring to these early bouts in Griffo’s career, Young Pluto, taking issue with a story appearing in the Sydney Referee, answers Solar Plexus, the writer, as follows:

"Then came our sixth contest, that went 75 rounds to a draw. We fought with 10-ounce gloves at the Melbourne Athletic Club. In that contest I knocked him down 17 times.

"His seconds were Jack Fuller and Wingie Cohen, whilst Peter Newton and Alf Lambert attended to my wants. The most peculiar thing about Griffo, in my opinion, was that he always wanted to fight a draw, or wanted to turn it up. He never wanted to go on. He always said I was too tough for him – too hard to beat.

"As regards your reference to four-round fights, I do not remember any. The shortest we ever had was eight. I boxed Griffo every night for a week, four exhibition rounds at the Gaiety Theatre, every one of which was a fight. The first three nights he fought well, but in the next two I consider I had him beaten, and on the sixth night I knocked him right off the stage and into the orchestra."

On receipt of Mr. Brown’s (Pluto’s) letter, Solar Plexus interviewed Jack Fuller, Griffo’s second, and sought Fuller’s opinion of what happened on the memorable occasion. This is what Solar Plexus wrote after his interview with Fuller:

"The erstwhile ’dandy’ said Pluto had no chance of beating Griffo. After the fight Griffo’s hair was not even ruffled, and Pluto’s head you could not have put into a large-sized bucket.

"At the termination of the forty-seventh round, it was announced that if the fight was not finished at the end of the sixtieth round, the verdict would go to the man who was then ahead on points.

"From the third round on, Pluto was as much use to Griffo as would have been a punching-ball, yet the judges showed their lack of sportsmanship by stating that they could not separate them. At the termination of the sixty-eighth round it was announced that if they were both on their feet at the end of two more rounds it would be a draw.

"That, however, had to be mutually agreed upon, and Fuller, recognizing that he had no chance of getting a verdict, no matter what happened, consented. Pluto raised no objection. Pluto says they fought seventy-five rounds, but the Melbourne correspondent of the Referee said only seventy.

"The purse they fought for was $250, and as travelling expenses for two from Sydney and back was but $25, after paying their way, they had to borrow their return fare from the noted comedian, the late Johnny Sheridan. Is it any wonder that Griffo’s fights were draws? Griffo certainly 1ooked for nothing but draws in America, but even then, as in his fight with Pluto, he outboxed his opponents."