Did Anybody Read The S I And Bob Hebert Piece On Emile Griffth?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

He was a welterweight champ in the 60's and killed a man in the ring after the man called him a matecon...


He also was a gay or bisexual man who openly frequented gay bars in an era where such diversions were taboo...

[Doctor_J]

1. I didn't know Griffith was gay or bi-

I look forward to watching the TV movie next week. That ring death was a big deal in its day because it was on the regular Friday Night Fights on commercial TV. The casuality was Benny "Kid" Peret, a Cuban who's been trash talking with Griffith for months.

I don't get SI, this sounds like a good read, and I love Herbert.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. I Didn't Know He Was Gay Or Bisexual Either...

Before the fight Benny Paret called him a matecon and asked him how his husband was...

The SI piece talks about how he frequented gay bars and was even severely beaten and left for dead outside a gay bar in 1992...

[H2O Man]

5. I haven't seen the article

but Emile and Bennie had fought before, I believe splitting two fights. Everyone trash-talks in fights. Bennie surely called him an unfortunate name, but that isn't the whole story. People get killed in boxing.

Griffith did react when people said things to him. This was not the only fight that someone said something stupid to him.

I've sat near him at fights, and had the chance to talk to him a number of times over the years. I've always thought he was a first class man. Great fighter, too.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. The Article Doesn't Suggest Griffith Killed Him On Purpose...

It was just an unfortunate turn of events...

[H2O Man]

10. It was strange

afterward when Emile fought in that ring. He wouldn't follow an opponent into that corner. I saw people go there just to avoid punishment. Emile rarely went for knockouts after that, anyhow.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. That's What SI Said...

That he was reluctant to pound a guy on the ropes after that...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. There Also Was An Article On Benni Paret's Widow In The NYT The Other Day

[H2O Man]

2. Emile is a good man.

Welterweight and middleweight champion. The Bennie Paret fight was broadcast live on tv. The referee, Ruby Goldstein, did not see that Bennie's arm was draped over the rope, and he couldn't fall. The fight was shown again on tv about 3 years ago. Emile is a good guy.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. He Sounds That Way...

He has dementia now and is broke...


SI used his story to segue into a larger discusion about openly gay folks in sports...


They quoted one boxing guy who said if a boxer outs himself "he better do it after he kicks everybody's ass."...

[H2O Man]

9. I know of one

fighter who said an ever more ignorant thing to Emile before a fight. As I said in an above post, I have known Emile casually in the past. I never had anything but respect for the man.

I've told a few other DUers, not on the forum, that I've been in touch with the Atlas Foundation, as well as others, to discuss some of the neurological damage that occures with boxers. There seems to be a comorbidity with taking blows to the head and a specific substance abuse, that is leaving more and more retired fighters in a very bad way in their mid-50s.

[Hand]

6. That was horrible. I remember it.

My dad used to watch the Friday night fights on TV and sat through the whole bout. He never watched them again after Paret died. I was still pretty young then, but I remember him getting more and more upset that the ref didn't end the fight and even more so when Paret died a few days later.

:cry:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Boxing Is A Dangerous Sport For Sure....

I used to be a huge Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard fan...

I don't watch it much anymore...

[dweller]

13. called him a Matcom????

damn..

dp

[Doctor_J]

14. No, nothing THAT offensive

;-).