Emile Griffith dies at 75; champion boxer struggled with his sexuality
Emile Griffith, a former world welterweight and middleweight boxing champion who spent decades haunted by his fatal beating of then-champion Benny Paret in the ring and bothered by the public's interest in his sexuality, died Tuesday. He was 75.
Griffith's death at an extended-care facility in Hempstead, N.Y., was announced by the International Boxing Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1990 following an 85-24-2 career that counted 23 main events at Madison Square Garden and victories over middleweight champions Dick Tiger and Nino Benvenuti.
"He was a man's man in the world of boxing but his own person out in the world," said Griffith's friend and biographer, Ron Ross, whose book on the fighter, "Nine… Ten… and Out! The Two Worlds of Emile Griffith," was published in 2008.
"It was difficult to get into details with Emile. To the end, he would not want to make himself so open to everyone," Ross said. "He didn't like to be labeled gay and still felt the world was not ready for Emile Griffith."
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-emile-griffith-20130724,0,174814.story
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