In And OUT Of Emille Griffith's Ring Of Fire!

"Maricon" the slur viciously and purposely slipped out of Benny Paret's mouth & into Emille Griffith's ear.   He had just called the boxer a faggot in Spanish, and Griffith wanted to take him out right then and there, but the fight hadn't even started yet. They were still at the pre-fight weigh-in of the welterweight match that was scheduled to jump off later on March 24, 1962 at Madison Square Garden.  This was to be their third (and last) boxing match, and surely this wasn't the first time a fighter verbally insulted his opponent below the belt this way.  Benny "The Kid" Paret was given to loud talking, teasing and insults, but this time the verbal sparring hit a little too close for Griffith's comfort.  Did Paret know something for sure?  Emille Griffith decided to handle the situation in the ring and go in for the kill.  It would be a fight to the death both figuratively and literally, and it would happen on national television.

They were a few similarities.  They were a year apart in age, with Paret born in 1937 (Cuba) and Griffith born in 1938 (Virgin Islands).  They were both black immigrants who grew up impoverished, and came to New York city with hopes of bettering themselves.   Both would become world boxing champions.  They are remembered as being total opposites.   Benny Paret was aggressive extrovert.  Emille Griffith was introspective and soft spoken.  At the time of their final fight, Paret was married with a pregnant wife and Griffith was rumoured to be homosexual.  Today, there are only a handful of professional athletes who have declared or will admit the truth of their sexual orientation.  In 1962, it was not thought possible that an athlete could be one of the gays, certainly not in the uber manly sport of professional boxing where uppercuts, hooks and knockout jabs were on the regular.  If the truth is threatening today, back then it was career suicide.   Not much has changed.  Today, as in the early sixties, to be called maricon, or faggot, is one of the most derogatory slurs used to insult males of any culture,  especially in black and latino communities.  We might have snappy comebacks now, or even own up to it to some degree, but in 1962, Emille Griffith was assuming nothing.  To this day, it is still a word that rankles him, as it does many of us.  And rightly so!

April, 1961.  Benny Paret held the World Welterweight boxing championship until he encountered Emille Griffith in their first boxing match.  Griffith captured it.  Six months later, Paret won it back in a narrow split decision.  On March 24, 1962, Emille Griffith took it back again after 2 minutes and 9 seconds of the twelth round, with Griffith knocking him unconscious with at least 25 deadly blows in that amount of time.  Earlier, Griffith had been down for an 8 count in the sixth, but his rebound wasn't at all surprising because he fans saw him in control of most of the fight.  Benny Paret was known for being tough and resilient in the ring, able to withstand many punches, but tonight his stamina wasn't holding up as usual.  In fact, long before 23-year old Griffith's dizzying two-handed maze of punches (that started with ten consecutive right uppercuts to the chin) many in Paret's camp were begging the referee to intervene.  Referee Ruby Goldstein wasn't moved to or by pity until it became quite clear to him that the only reason Paret still appeared to be on his feet was because Griffith's hard driving pounding was keeping him propped on the ropes.  With his eyes closed for pretty much the last time, his hands limp at his sides, Paret's head was being snapped from side to side with punch after brutal punch from Griffith's fists.  The crowd seemed panicked and bloodthirsty at the same time.  Their bloodlust rose to a new freak level when Paret didn't slump.  When ten rights to the face failed to properly do the job, Griffith started alternating right hooks with lefts.  Paret still didn't fall.  Goldstein finally stepped in, and Benny Paret slid from the ropes to the canvas.  He lay unconscious for about eight minutes while physicians worked on him.  When he failed to regain consciousness in the ring, he was taken to his dressing room on a stretcher and later rushed to the hospital emergency room where he underwent brain surgery at New York's Roosevelt Hospital.  Benny "The Kid" Paret never opened his eyes again, and died eight days later.  The widespread publicity of this incident, and the ensuing criticisms of boxing fueled then New York Governor Nelson Rockerfeller to lodge a full-scale investigation into the sport that forced NBC to suspend its boxing broadcasts.  Other networks followed suit, and it stayed that way until the 1970's.

The general public seemingly never knew the reason for Emille Griffith's tunnel-vision aggression that night until a 2005 article in Sports Illustrated suggested that the questioning of his sexual orientation and Paret's insults drove him to the outer limits.  Griffith was also interviewed for the article, and seemed somewhat confused about his sexuality, alternately identifying himself as homosexual and then as heterosexual.   The magazine blamed the Alzheimer-like condition of pugilistic dementia as the cause of his confusion.  Apparently, in a moment of clarity, Griffith was quoted as saying "I like men and women both...(but) I don't like that word: homosexual, gay or faggot.  I don't know what I am.  I love men and women the same."  A later interview for Newsday, and he gave the money quote with "I keep thinking how strange it is...I kill a man and most people understand and forgive me.  However, I love a man, and to so many people this is an unforgiveable sin; this makes me an evil person.  So though I never went to jail, I have been in prison all my life".  Indeed, as well as struggling over the issue of his sexuality, Griffith would receive hate mail for decades and suffer lifelong nightmares and guilt after the death of Benny Paret.  Just eight years before the aforementioned Sports Ilustrated article, Emille Griffith was confronted, attacked and beaten after leaving a New York gay bar.  The cause of the attack was never confirmed, but assumed to a be random hate crime with Griffith being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  He was in his early sixties.

Emille Griffith continued his career.  He was a junior-weight, a middle-weight and a welter-weight.  A six time world boxing champion.  From the Paret bout to his retirement in 1977 (long after he should've quit), Griffith fought 80 bouts, but with only twelve knockouts.  He admitted to using his superior fighting skills now as opposed to brute strength.  Out of the ring of fire, he hung out at some of New York's early pioneer gay bars like the Tenth of Always, the Blue Bunny and at the infamous, Mafia owned and operated landmark, The Stonewall Inn.  The patrons had a degree of freedom but were still repressed in a setting among themselves.  Griffith's presence seemed to inspire and and lend hope.  He was somewhat revolutionary to the degree that at a time when public figures, let alone sports figures, were so deep in the closet with no lights on, Griffith was often seen on the scene.  Subsequent to the historic gay rebellion at Stonewall, Griffith became a charter member and part bankroller of the Stonewall Veteran's Club (now called the Stonewall Veteran Association).  In 2005, he became the association's first VP.  The association is comprised of the actual, surviving and active veterans of the 1969 GLBT "rebellion" in front of the Stonewall Inn at 69 Christopher St., in Greenwich Village.  Emille Griffith was not there that night, but for awhile, at least, he did participate in some of the current gay pride parades held in the city in their honor.

That same year, a film was made which documented Griffith's life called Ring Of Fire: The Emille Griffith Story.  The film documents his background, his rise as a boxer, depicts his agony over what happened to Benny Paret, has snippets of interviews with an ex-wife who basically implied she knew nothing of his sexuality, and interviews Griffith extensively as he tells the camera he is "nobody's faggot".  The film is a fascinating documentary but details next to nothing about Griffith's sexuality, and certainly nothing about frequenting gay bars, and riding in gay pride parades.  But it does depict a tearful and forgiving meeting between the ex-champ and Benny Paret's son that absolves a lifetime of pain and regret. 

Emille Griffith resides in Hempstead, New York City, in an apartment where he requires full time care for his sickness.  All things considered, it is said he is still relatively socially active. 

Comments

[Taylor Siluwé]

Someone should do a bio-pic about this man. We need to tell his story.

[Ian]

I don't know why, but this story made me feel incredibly sad.

[Thomas]

"I keep thinking how strange it is...I kill a man and most people understand and forgive me. However, I love a man, and to so many people this is an unforgiveable sin; this makes me an evil person. So though I never went to jail, I have been in prison all my life".

WOW, now that's an intense statement for SOCIETY to mutter over! It's nice that Griffith seems to have found some solace from his community over the years. And I also love when he says he's "nobody's faggot". That's something to put in your pipe and smoke, lol.

Thanks for your penetrating search light, Corey, you bring so many things to life/light, exposing us to people/things we might never know. Kudos!

[MacDaddy]

Corey, this post was fantastic. You tell a story that is both triumphant and sad. In so many ways, you think that this may be about the decisions taken by Griffith. But, ultimately, it's about us and our society which relegated gays to some sub-par position in society, causing them to sneak around to certain bars and other places at night.

We should have said then what we should say now: "So what if he loves both men and women? So what if he's a fighter who is gay?" But we haven't gotten to that point yet, have we?

Blessings.