Photo: Roberto Vicario / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Emile Griffith is one of those fighters whose story cuts so deep it goes way beyond boxing. Born in the Virgin Islands, he carved out a career that saw him win world titles at welterweight and middleweight multiple times — a rare kind of champion who kept fighting his way back to the top. But the shadow that followed him was the 1962 bout with Benny Paret, who died days after their brutal title fight; Griffith carried that weight for the rest of his life, and knowing that gives everything about him a bittersweet gravity. On top of that, he lived quietly as a gay man in an era when that was genuinely dangerous, especially inside the hypermasculine world of professional boxing. He passed in 2013, inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame back in 1990, and honestly the sport has never produced a figure quite as complex, as human, or as quietly courageous as him.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Emile Griffith
- Name (Japanese)
- エミール・グリフィス
- Reading
- えみーる・ぐりふぃす
- Born
- February 3, 1938 – July 23, 2013
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aquarius / Tiger
- Origin
- Saint Thomas, United States
- Height
- 171 cm
- Occupation
- boxer
2. Background
Awards & achievements
- 1990 International Boxing Hall of Fame
- WBC World Middleweight Champion
- WBC World Welterweight Champion
- WBC World Welterweight Champion
- WBA World Middleweight Champion
- WBA World Middleweight Champion
- WBA World Welterweight Champion
- WBA World Welterweight Champion
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Emile Griffith born?
February 3, 1938 – July 23, 2013.
Where is Emile Griffith from?
Emile Griffith is from Saint Thomas, United States.
What does Emile Griffith do?
Emile Griffith works as boxer.
How tall is Emile Griffith?
Emile Griffith is 171 cm.
Boxer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.