70-year-old former middleweight boxing champ Emile Griffith has finally come out of the closet in the new book Nine … Ten … And Out! The Two Worlds of Emile Griffith.
Griffith is most famous for killing fellow boxer Benny Paret during a live televised match at Madison Square Garden in 1962. Paret had called Griffith a “maricon” (homo) before the match started and Griffith not only defeated him in the match, but put him in a coma from which he did not emerge. In Griffith’s words:
“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 unforgivable sin; this makes me an evil person. So, even though I never went to jail, I have been in prison almost all my life.”
(Thanks to Tommix for the tip!)
There should be a law against a gay fighter fighting because they could give the other fighter aids.One tiny drop of their blood in the wrong spot could change the other fighters life forever.
what do you mean FINALLY come out? there was a tv documentary about him, his sexuality and that particular boxing match a few years ago. him being gay is nothing new.
I think it’s strange too, sir. That point needs to be made more often because is a mind-boggling truth.