Emile Griffith was the third man in history to hold both the welterweight and middleweight championships. The first two were Sugar Ray Robinson and Carmen Basilio. Griffith was born in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands, and came to New York City when he was thirteen to join his mother, who worked in a hat factory. He eventually took a job working with his mother and came to the attention of the factory owner, who introduced Griffith to trainer Gil Clancy, one of the best in the business. Two years later Griffith was one of the top amateur fighters in the East.
He turned professional in 1958 and won twenty-two of twenty-four fights before he earned the right to fight Benny ("Kid") Paret for the world welterweight championship. He won the fight with a knockout in the thirteenth round, but his championship was short-lived......
This is a free excerpt of 150 words. This section contains 485 words. This
article contains 26,521 words (approx. 88 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Article with our America 1960-1969: Sports Access Pass.
