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Emile Griffith Still Going Strong at 66

Feb 19, 2004 
On February 3, former welterweight and middleweight champion Emile Griffith turned 66 years old. After looking up his career record, I was amazed to see just how many world class fighters Griffith took on and defeated. The next thing that jumped out was his longevity...he remained competitive throughout his nineteen year professional boxing career. Twenty six years after his last professional boxing match, he is still going strong.

Griffith was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands and was introduced to boxing when he moved to New York City. At the time, Griffith says he was working as a delivery boy for a man named Howie Albert, who would eventually become his manager. Griffith won his first world welterweight title on April 1, 1961 with a knockout over Benny "Kid" Paret in the thirteenth round. Griffith today recalls that fight as the greatest moment of his boxing career, and that at the time he "felt like a king."

In addition to winning two out of three against Paret, Griffith would go on to record victories over such great fighters as Luis Rodriguez, who he bested three out of four times, Dick Tiger, who Griffith calls "my Nigerian friend and the fighter whom I admired the most," Nino Benvenuti and Bennie Briscoe. In his time, Griffith also had great fights against Jose Napoles, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, and Carlos Monzon. There is no question that he fought everyone.

Griffith attributes his incredible longevity in the sport to his training regimen under Gil Clancy. "I worked hard and was very serious about my job," Griffith says. "My training was very hard. Gil Clancy did not play with you, he made you work hard. That’s what I liked about him." He also sees lack of training as a problem with today’s fighters, saying "Although I think the fighters today are very good, they don’t train the way I used to train. Our trainers always looked after us and didn’t let us run around."

He fought in more main events at Madison Square Garden than any other fighter, and holds the record for most championship rounds fought at 339. Plans for an HBO or Showtime documentary on the life and career of Emile Griffith are in the works, and that promises to be a very interesting and entertaining program as Griffith’s life and career are adequately described by those adjectives as well. Producer Dan Klores, whose work includes City by the Sea with Robert De Niro, is spearheading that project.

Emile Griffith spends his days now "resting, partying and enjoying" himself. That being the case, he deserves it for a wonderful career and all of the thrills he gave fans when he fought.

On behalf of DoghouseBoxing, I would like to wish Emile a belated happy 66th birthday, and may you have the longevity in life that you had in boxing.

Writer’s note: I would like to thank
Mr. David Selwyn (Pictured here, Left)
and Emile Griffith (Right) for their
assistance in this article.


Emile GRIFFITH
"Emile Alphonse Griffith"
(Middleweight)

Amateur Record:
1958: Golden Gloves

Professional Record: 112 fights; 85+ (23 KO), 2=, 24-, 1 N.C.
1961: World Welterweight
1962-1963: World Welterweight
1963-1966: World Welterweight
1966-1967: World Middleweight
1967-1968: World Middleweight
1974: North America Middleweight

- 1958 -
+ (Jun-2-1958, New York) Joe Parham 4
+ (Jun-23-1958, New York) Bobby Gibson 4
+ (Jul-21-1958, New York) Tommy Leaks 4
+ (Oct-6-1958, New York) Artie Cunningham 6
+ (Nov-17-1958, New York) Sergio Rios ko 3
+ (Dec-15-1958, New York) Larry Jones ko 5
- 1959 -
+ (Jan-26-1959, New York) Gaylord Barnes ko 5
+ (Feb-9-1959, New York) Willie Joe Johnson ko 5
+ (Feb-23-1959, New York) Barry ALLISON ko 5
+ (Mar-23-1959, New York) Bobby Shell 10
+ (Apr-27-1959, New York) Mel Barker 10
+ (May-25-1959, New York) Willie Stevenson 10
+ (Aug-7-1959, New York) Kid Fichique 10
- (Oct-26-1959, New York) Randy Sandy 10
+ (Nov-23-1959, New York) Ray Lancaster kot 7
- 1960 -
+ (Jan-8-1960, New York) Roberto Pena 10
+ (Feb-12-1960, New York) Gaspar ORTEGA 10
+ (Mar-11-1960, New York) Denny MOYER 10
- (Apr-26-1960, Portland) Denny MOYER 10
+ (Jun-3-1960, New York) Jorge Fernandez 10
+ (Jul-25-1960, New York) Jorge Fernandez 10
+ (Aug-25-1960, New York) Florentino FERNANDEZ 10
+ (Oct-22-1960, New York) Willie TOWEEL kot 8
+ (Dec-17-1960, New York) Luis Manuel RODRIGUEZ 10
- 1961 -
+ (Apr-1-1961, Miami Beach) Benny PARET ko 13 (World, Welterweight)
+ (Jun-3-1961, Los Angeles) Gaspar ORTEGA ko 12 (World, Welterweight)
+ (Jul-29-1961, New York) Yama BAHAMA 10
- (Sep-30-1961, New York) Benny PARET 15 (World, Welterweight)
+ (Nov-4-1961, Hamilton) Stanford Bulla kot 4
+ (Dec-23-1961, New York) Isaac LOGART 10
- 1962 -
+ (Feb-3-1962, Saint-Thomas) Johnny Torres 10
+ (Mar-24-1962, New York) Benny Paret² kot 12 (World, Welterweight)
+ (Jul-13-1962, Las Vegas) Ralph DUPAS 15 (World, Welterweight)
+ (Aug-18-1962, Tacoma) Denny MOYER 10
+ (Oct-6-1962, New York) Don FULLMER 10
+ (Oct-17-1962, Vienne) Ted Wright 15
+ (Dec-8-1962, Las Vegas) Jorge Fernandez kot 9 (World, Welterweight)
- 1963 -
+ (Feb-3-1963, Copenhagen) Christian CHRISTENSEN kot 9
- (Mar-21-1963, Los Angeles) Luis Manuel RODRIGUEZ 15 (World, Welterweight)
+ (Jun-8-1963, New York) Luis Manuel RODRIGUEZ 15 (World, Welterweight)
+ (Aug-10-1963, Saratoga) Holly MIMS 10
+ (Oct-5-1963, San Juan) Joe Gonzalez 10
- (Dec-20-1963, Pittsburgh) Rubin CARTER kot 1
- 1964 -
+ (Feb-10-1964, Sydney) Ralph DUPAS ko 3
N.C. (Mar-11-1964, Rome) Carlo DURAN 7
+ (Apr-14-1964, Honolulu) Stan HARRINGTON ko 4
+ (Jun-12-1964, Las Vegas) Luis Manuel RODRIGUEZ 15 (World, Welterweight)
+ (Sep-22-1964, London) Brian Curvis 15 (World, Welterweight)
+ (Dec-1-1964, London) Dave CHARNLEY kot 9
- 1965 -
- (Jan-25-1965, Houston) Manuel Gonzalez 10
+ (Mar-30-1965, New York) Jose STABLE 15 (World, Welterweight)
+ (Jun-14-1965, Honolulu) Eddie Pace 10
- (Aug-20-1965, Salt Lake City) Don FULLMER 12
+ (Sep-14-1965, Fresno) Gabe Terronez ko 4
+ (Oct-4-1965, London) Harry SCOTT ko 7
+ (Dec-10-1965, New York) Manuel GONZALEZ 15 (World, Welterweight)
- 1966 -
+ (Feb-3-1966, Las Vegas) Johnny Brooks 10
+ (Apr-25-1966, New York) Dick TIGER 15 (World, Middleweight)
25.4.1966: Griffith, devenu champion des Moyens, abandonne son titre des
Welters.
+ (Jul-13-1966, New York) Joey ARCHER 15 (World, Middleweight)
- 1967 -
+ (Jan-23-1967, New York) Joey ARCHER 15 (World, Middleweight)
- (Apr-17-1967, New York) Nino BENVENUTI 15 (World, Middleweight)
+ (Sep-28-1967, New York) Nino BENVENUTI 15 (World, Middleweight)
+ (Dec-15-1967, Rome) Remo GOLFARINI kot 6
- 1968 -
- (Mar-4-1968, New York) Nino BENVENUTI 15 (World, Middleweight)
+ (Jun-11-1968, Oakland) Andy Heilman 10
+ (Aug-6-1968, Philadelphia) Joe Gypsy HARRIS 12
- (Oct-29-1968, Philadelphia) Stanley HAYWARD 10
- 1969 -
+ (Feb-3-1969, New York) Andy Heilman 10
+ (May-12-1969, New York) Stanley HAYWARD 12
+ (Jul-11-1969, Syracuse) Dick Di Veronica kot 7
+ (Aug-16-1969, Sioux Falls) Art Hernandez 10
- (Oct-17-1969, Los Angeles) Jose NAPOLES 15 (World, Welterweight)
- 1970 -
+ (Jan-28-1970, Cleveland) Doyle BAIRD 10
+ (Mar-11-1970, New York) Carlos Marks 12
+ (Jun-4-1970, Copenhagen) Tom BOGS 10
+ (Jul-15-1970, New York) Dick TIGER 10
+ (Oct-17-1970, Saint-Thomas) Danny Perez 10
+ (Nov-10-1970, San Francisco) Nate Collins 10
- 1971 -
+ (Mar-23-1971, San Francisco) Rafael Gutierrez 10
+ (Apr-10-1971, Saint-Thomas) Juan Ramos ko 2
+ (May-3-1971, Las Vegas) Ernie LOPEZ 10
+ (Jul-26-1971, New York) Max Cohen 10
- (Sep-25-1971, Buenos Aires) Carlos MONZON kot 14 (World, Middleweight)
+ (Dec-10-1971, New York) Dan Mc Aloon 10
- 1972 -
+ (Jan-21-1972, Anaheim) Armando MUNIZ 10
+ (Feb-21-1972, Paris) Jacques KECHICHIAN 10
+ (Mar-31-1972, Los Angeles) Ernie Lopez 10
+ (Sep-16-1972, Boston) Joe De Nucci 10
+ (Oct-11-1972, Boston) Joe De Nucci 12
- (Dec-18-1972, Paris) Jean-Claude BOUTTIER disq.7
- 1973 -
= (Mar-12-1973, Paris) Max Cohen 10
- (Jun-2-1973, Monte-Carlo) Carlos MONZON 15 (World, Middleweight)
+ (Nov-1-1973, Tampa) Manuel Gonzalez 10
- (Nov-19-1973, Paris) Tony MUNDINE 12
- 1974 -
- (Feb-5-1974, Boston) Tony LICATA 12 (Am‚rique Nord, Middleweight)
+ (May-25-1974, Monte-Carlo) Renato Garcia 10
+ (Oct-9-1974, Philadelphia) Benny Briscoe 12 (Am‚rique Nord, Middleweight)
- (Nov-23-1974, New York) Vito Antuofermo 10
+ (Dec-10-1974, Montreal) Donato Paduano 10
- 1975 -
- (May-31-1975, Cali) Jose Luis Duran 10
+ (Jul-23-1975, Landover) Leo Saenz 10
- (Aug-9-1975, Johanesburg) Elijah Makathini 10
+ (Nov-7-1975, Albany) Jose Chirino 10
- 1976 -
- (Feb-9-1976, Paris) Loucif Hamani 10
= (Jun-26-1976, Monte-Carlo) Benny Briscoe 10
- (Sep-18-1976, Berlin) Eckhard DAGGE 15 (W.B.C., Junior middleweights)
+ (Oct-24-1976, Carthagene) Dino Del Cid kot 3
+ (Dec-4-1976, Hambourg) Frank Reiche retiring 10
- 1977 -
+ (Feb-2-1977, New York) Christy Elliott 10
- (Apr-15-1977, Perigueux) Joel Bonnetaz 10
- (Jul-16-1977, Louisville) Mayfield Pennington 10
- (Jul-30-1977, Monte-Carlo) Alan MINTER 10)




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