Emile Griffith

CTL-E-7087 · Person · other · 1938–2013

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07959 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7087.

Emile Griffith was born February 3, 1938, in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, moved to New York City, won a New York Golden Gloves title and turned professional in 1958, the International Boxing Hall of Fame records. He won the welterweight title by knocking out Benny Paret in the thirteenth round on April 1, 1961, lost it to Paret by decision in the rematch, and regained it on March 24, 1962, in their third fight, Britannica records. In that fight Griffith backed Paret into a corner in the twelfth round and continued punching as Paret slumped against the ropes before the referee stopped it; Paret lapsed into a coma and died ten days later, on April 3, 1962. Accounts of the period report that Paret had taunted Griffith before the bout with remarks about his sexuality; Griffith himself insisted, Britannica records, that the brutality of the finish was not associated with Paret's remarks, and he was shaken by the death. Griffith went on to win the middleweight title from Dick Tiger in 1966 and to hold five world championships in all — three at welterweight and two at middleweight, per Britannica — finishing, the Hall gives, with 85 wins, 24 losses and 2 draws with 23 knockouts in 112 bouts. He died July 23, 2013, and was inducted into the Hall in 1990.

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0463. Paret disposition (factual, both sides attributed, nothing added): the March 24, 1962 fight, the twelfth-round stoppage, the coma and the death ten days later on April 3, 1962 are carried as Britannica and the Hall state them. On the pre-fight taunts: period accounts, as Britannica summarizes them, report remarks by Paret about Griffith's sexuality before the bout; Griffith's own stated position, also per Britannica, was that the finish was not associated with those remarks. The two are carried side by side and no motive is asserted. Firsts disposition: no first is claimed beyond Britannica's five-championship count (three welterweight, two middleweight), carried attributed. The 1966 Tiger (S8-05) title win is a bout result in the descriptions, not a relationship edge. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Griffith's record must hold two things at once — a five-championship career and the sport's most consequential ring death — and it does so on the sources' words, without adornment in either direction. Photo: CLEARED, CC BY-SA 3.0, 2010 photograph whose Commons file description names Emile Griffith.

Sources

• International Boxing Hall of Fame. "Emile Griffith." IBHOF.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Emile Griffith." Britannica.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)

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