‘I was so afraid for Paret but I was afraid for myself, also,’ he said in Ross’ book. ‘I was feeling a terrible guilt because the truth was, I was angry at him. And seeing the way he was now, I didn’t want to feel that I had any anger towards him. I was angry at him, but it wasn’t hate. It was nothing like hate. At that moment I could not even recognize that there was a difference between anger and hate. I broke down, crying, asking myself if I could have been so angry that I wanted to kill him. I had to admit that I hated him so much for what he said but I really didn’t hate him – the person – Benny Paret.’
Paret’s death 10 days later only marked the beginning of Griffith’s agony, an agony that never left him. That feeling extended to referee Ruby Goldstein, who never officiated another fight.
In the wake of Paret’s death Griffith was taunted in the streets and received hundreds of hateful letters from Paret supporters who believed Griffith had purposely murdered their hero. But their words couldn’t add to the torment Griffith already felt, which often came in the form of nightmares.
Still, he fought the demons day after day but only rarely did the tigerish Griffith re-emerge in the ring. For the most part, Griffith gained satisfaction by out-pointing opponents rather than starching them. After the Paret KO – his 11th – Griffith scored only 12 more knockouts in his final 81 fights.
Following his 1977 retirement, Griffith followed the footsteps of Clancy and uncle Murphy Griffith and became a trainer. His most notable charges were WBC featherweight champion Juan LaPorte and, at times, triple-crown titlist Wilfred Benitez. The connection with Clancy remained strong throughout their lives; in fact, one close acquaintance said that Griffith spoke to Clancy the day before the Hall of Fame trainer died in March 2011.
He was elected to the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1984 and in 1989 he was named one of the charter inductees at the International Boxing Hall of Fame (officially inducted in 1990). But as wonderful as those moments must have been for Griffith, he experienced a profound catharsis on November 8 2003 when Paret’s son Benny junior embraced Griffith and expressed his forgiveness.
The moment was captured in the 2005 documentary Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story, but not all was complete because Paret’s widow Lucy, who died in 2004, couldn’t bear to see Griffith again.
The final years of Griffith’s life were not healthy ones as the effects of pugilistic dementia set in. His happy-go-lucky personality was replaced by extreme suspicion and the changes sometimes manifested themselves in public. One particularly uncomfortable moment occurred during a Friday night event at one International Boxing Hall of Fame induction weekend when a confused and frightened Griffith failed to recognize Benvenuti and struck him on the arm. The understanding Benvenuti simply smiled and gently led Griffith back to his seat.
But the memories of his final years should be superseded by the glories of his youth. The beautiful blend of boxing skills and underrated fury, the many triumphs and accomplishments inside the ring and the nights of victory in the corner. He will also be remembered for the 23 occasions he headlined at Madison Square Garden, boxing’s most celebrated shrine.
His is a presence that boxing, and those who love it, will miss from this day forward. The Ring online article Doug Fischer, ‘Emile Griffith Tribute’
[8.7] BARBADOS JOE WALCOTT arbados Joe Walcott 166-104(61)-32-27-3 [Welterweight & Lightweight]: Cox’s Corner Profiles online -
It was Joe Walcott, the Barbados Demon, welterweight champion of the world from 1901-1904, who actually coined the phrase ‘the bigger they are the harder they fall’. Bob Fitzsimmons certainly popularized the saying before he faced Jim Jeffries, but it was Walcott who first said it. The phrase belonged to Walcott, who despite his short stature was extremely successful against much larger and heavier opponents. He had fantastic stamina and durability as well as a proven punch. A natural welterweight, he was one of the greatest ‘pound for pound’ fighters in boxing history and fought men weighing from lightweight to heavyweight during his career.
Joe Walcott, the ‘original’, had the power to beat heavyweights; in fact he scored a first round kayo over 180 pound Tom McCarthy fairly early in his career. Walcott fought a number of other light-heavyweights and heavyweights. Walcott’s manager, Tom O’Rourke, also handled heavyweight contender Sailor Tom Sharkey, whom some historians compare favorably to Rocky Marciano. Sharkey twice went the distance with heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries. O’Rourke once stated, (Fleischer, pp198-199), ‘I had to stop Walcott from sparring with the sailor because Joe dumped him on his ear one afternoon in the gym.’
Walcott hit hard enough to knock out heavyweights. Can one picture modern welterweights such as Delahoya, Trinidad or even Ray Robinson ko’ing a 180-plus pounder? Robinson ventured up to light-heavyweight once, running out of gas against Joey Maxim. He never again moved beyond the middleweight limit.
Walcott often gave weight to opponents and came out victorious. For one of his fights against Dick O’Brien, considered one of the best fighters of his weight, the August 28, 1895 Boston Herald reported ‘Walcott, according to Tom O’Rourke, weighed 138 pounds, against O’Brien’s 150 pounds. This ordinarily would be considered a great handicap. Few fighters would care to give away a dozen pounds. But so certain was O’Rourke that his man would win that he waived the weight’. Walcott knocked out O’Brien in 2 minutes and 25 seconds of the first round.
The August 28 1895 Police News stated, ‘Walcott now surpasses any of our welterweights, unless it be (Mysterious) Billy Smith, in the telling execution of a single blow. I do not see how he is to be beaten by any foeman who will give him hit for hit. Any man except a very big man whom he gets his right hand on to fairly and squarely isn’t coming up for much more. Walcott in his dumpy, dwarf monitor build, his hardness of flesh, his power of punching and the small surface he offers for return hits, is in a class by himself – different from anything else in the field’.
McCallum wrote (p194), ‘Walcott was something of a physical freak. Despite his size, he had the stamina of a bull’.
The National Police Gazette October 27, 1894, supports this view: ‘His neck is 18 inches and his chest expanded is 41 inches, which is remarkable for a man of his weight’.
The April 20, 1895 Gazette described Walcott’s power thusly, ‘His delivery was terrific having the force of a pile-driver’. One blow from Walcott was said to be equal ‘to five’ of his opponent’s.
Nat Fleischer called Walcott, (Black Dynamite vol 3. p196), ‘a sawed off Hercules, an abnormally powerful puncher.’ He also said, ‘Men who fought him were sorely handicapped … for all his opponents were taller, and their blows usually landed on his shoulders or on top of his granite skull. Probably more men ruined their hands on Walcott than on any other scrapper of that day.’
Walcott was widely recognized as the best welterweight in the world long before he won the title. The January 11 1902 Police Gazette stated, ‘From a technical standpoint three or four fighters have been recognized as welterweight champion, but it was apparent to men who have knowledge of prize ring affairs that they only held that tile on sufferance because of an obvious desire to avoid meeting with a black man who was conceded to be their superior’. Walcott won the championship on a fifth round stoppage of Rube Fern in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Gazette reported that Walcott turned ‘Fern into a jelly in five rounds’.
Such was Walcott’s reputation as a fierce puncher that he claimed in newspaper reports that, ‘Since no welterweight or middleweight will fight me I am compelled to go to the next class. Will any heavyweights fight me?’ [See Police Gazette October 13, 1900]. Walcott issued challenges to Tom Sharkey, Gus Ruhlin and even champion Jim Jeffies, though they all declined to meet him in the ring.
Some claim Walcott’s record is spotty. Research by Tracy Callis puts his record at 96-24-24 (62 KOs) with 22 ND and 3 NC. Most however fail to realize that the many of his losses came after Walcott severely injured his right hand in a gun accident in late 1904. Initial news reports, such as the October 18 1904 Philadelphia Record indicated that his hand might have to be amputated; although his hand was saved Walcott wasn’t same fighter after this, and in fact he did not fight again for two years.
In his 15 round fight against Jack Bonner the Gazette reported that ‘Barbados Demon shows his ability to fight faster than ever’. He fought at a fast pace throwing many punches and only the final bell saved Bonner from certain knockout defeat.
Walcott also had a good number of unrecorded fights. The Police Gazette reported, ‘While on the road he knocked out at least 100 men. Among the high-class men he has beaten are Dick O’Brien, Mike Walsh, Mike Harris, and Tom Tracy of Australia’.
Some of his losses were actually wins where he was the victim of bad decisions because he was a black fighter. A number of his draws are rather dubious too …
One of Walcott’s greatest victories was against Joe Choynski. Choyinski had gone 28 rounds against Jim Corbett, and drew with the likes of Bob Fitzsimmons and Al ‘Kid’ McCoy and would knock out a young Jack Johnson the following year. Choyinski outweighed Walcott 173 to 137 pounds and was a 5-1 favorite to beat the game little Walcott. The ‘Barbados Demon’ demonstrated his impressive punching power by flooring Choyinski several times in the first round and gave the latter a terrific beating before stopping him in the 7th round.
Tommy West was a pretty good middleweight who had fought 17 rounds with Tommy Ryan for the middleweight title, and Walcott clearly dominated him, winning three times, once by KO, with 1 decision loss, 1 draw, and 1 ND.
Walcott also fought a draw with middleweight (and future light- heavyweight champion) Philadelphia Jack O’Brien over 10 rounds.
Walcott beat a number of other top middleweights including Jack Bonner, Kid Carter, George Cole, and the ever-durable Joe Grim.
Walcott fought light-heavyweight champ George Gardner twice, winning once by 20 round decision and losing by the same. He also defeated light-heavyweight Young Peter Jackson. One wonders whether modern era welterweight champions would have success against the reigning light-heavyweight champion if their opponents weighed in at 175?
Mysterious Billy Smith was a very dirty fighter. In fact he lost 10 times on fouls. Smith was good enough to win the welterweight championship, and once beat Tommy Ryan, flooring him three times in the process, (it was ruled a NC because the police intervened when they saw Ryan was about to be KO’d). Smith also had a knockout over Kid Lavigne. Walcott and Smith fought numerous times with Walcott proving to be the much better fighter, winning 3 times, twice by KO, with 2 draws, and one loss by decision.
Walcott’s only significant losses were to George ‘Kid’ Lavigne, and Dixie Kid. His fights against Lavigne were ‘handicap’ bouts where, because of contractual agreements, Walcott was forced to come in greatly under his normal weight. Walcott, a natural welter because of his brawny build, trained down to 136 for the first fight which he lost on a 15 round decision. He had to ‘kill himself’ to make the weight and was physically drained before the fight started. The second fight was for Lavigne’s World Lightweight title, which means Walcott had to weigh 133 pounds (then the lightweight limit) on the day of the fight. Walcott had no strength and faded badly in losing by 12th round TKO. The loss to Dixie Kid is significant because Walcott lost the title, though by foul in the 20th round.