A BAD GOOD FIGHT
I n the chaotic aftermath of his title win, Emile Griffith was not acting like a champion. Minutes after beaming from his handlers’ shoulders – having just taken the middleweight title from Dick Tiger at Madison Square Garden – he was in his dressing room, furious and irrational. He had just made history, yet he looked like a man consumed by angst. First, Griffith made a spectacle of himself in an argument with his mother. He had her ejected from his dressing room because she’d had the audacity to kiss him in front of reporters. When she protested, he yelled that it was his right to behave as he wanted, since he’d won the fight and deserved some respect.
EMILE GRIFFITH VS. DICK TIGER SHOULD’VE BEEN A BARNBURNER SHOWCASING TWO FUTURE HALL OF FAMERS FOR A BOXING-DEPRIVED PUBLIC, BUT IT PROVIDED A FLASHPOINT FOR CRITICISM INSTEAD By Don Stradley
74 RINGMAGAZINE.COM
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