Thursday, April 14, 2005 | 9:38 a.m.
Jeff Haney's covers boxing for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4041 or [email protected].
It was one of the darkest moments in boxing history.
On March 24, 1962, at Madison Square Garden, Emile Griffith beat Benny "Kid" Paret so brutally in a welterweight championship fight that Paret crumbled to the canvas and never regained consciousness.
Paret died in the hospital 10 days later.
Filmmaker Dan Klores remembers watching the bout on television as a kid.
"Even as a 12-year-old, it was horrific," Klores said in a telephone interview. "It was all we spoke about at school that Monday."
Klores, best known for the 2003 documentary he and Ron Berger directed, "The Boys of 2nd Street Park," said he felt so drawn to the fight's tragic storyline, even 40 years later, that he decided to make it the subject of his second major film.
"Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story," directed by Klores and Berger, made its debut at this year's Sundance Film Festival. It will be shown, without commercials, at 9 p.m. Wednesday on USA Network (Cox cable channel 34).
"It stayed with me as a memory, and I wanted to examine why it continued to stay with me," Klores said. "I was attracted to the idea that these were two boys ... and I wanted to find out what happened to Emile, and what happened to the people who loved Paret.
"I wanted to know about their feelings of isolation and desperation."
Paret's death prompted calls by New York politicians to outlaw boxing because of its savage nature.
But another ugly incident also underscored the fight and its aftermath.
At the weigh-in for the bout, Paret, a Cuban exile once considered a rising star in boxing, whispered to Griffith the word "maricon," Spanish for a slur against gay men. Enraged, Griffith lunged at Paret in front of stunned onlookers.
Griffith has never said publicly whether he is gay, though he acknowledges he has visited gay nightclubs.
It was a sensitive subject, particularly given the times (the early 1960s), the fighters' respective cultures (Griffith is a Virgin Islands native) and their sport (machismo saturates boxing).
"It wasn't my role to make a decision about what his preference is," Klores said.
"Ring of Fire" includes interviews with Paret's wife and son, and journalists and boxers of the day such as Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamill, the late Jack Newfield, Jose Torres and Gene Fullmer.
"To me, this was about the boxing world before Ali," Klores said. "It was a different world. The big names were Fullmer, (Carmen) Basilio, Sugar Ray (Robinson)."
The film raises the question of whether Paret was even fit to step into the ring that night, as he had been badly battered in a loss to Fullmer just three months before in a fight that took place at the Convention Center in Las Vegas.
Newfield, in fact, blames Paret's management for trying to squeeze "one more big payday out of this broken-down racehorse."
Benny Paret's wife, Lucy, reveals that Benny called her on the day of the bout and said he didn't feel up to fighting. So much money was involved in the promotion, though, that he felt obligated to go through with it.
"That really shook me," Klores said. "Lucy Paret is an exceptional, wonderful woman. She revealed a piece of her heart."
Griffith fought some big-money bouts in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but his fortunes have fluctuated. In 1992 he was viciously beaten by a group of attackers outside of a gay bar in Manhattan.
The documentary shows Griffith living in an apartment on Long Island, N.Y. An absorbing sequence in the film portrays Benny Paret Jr. meeting Griffith for the first time, more than 40 years after his father died from injuries sustained in the boxing ring.
Trinidad-Wright
Winky Wright and Felix "Tito" Trinidad will clash in a middleweight bout May 14 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in what could be the most significant fight of 2005.
Although the prefight discussion about Wright's boxing skills usually centers on his speed and movement, Camp Winky this week was emphasizing another aspect of the matchup: size.
"Winky as a fighter is a natural 160 (pounds)," promoter Gary Shaw said in a conference call. "I think that's going to be a distinct advantage. (Trinidad) beat (Ricardo) Mayorga last time. But that wasn't Winky."
Trinidad and Mayorga have campaigned at junior welterweight and welterweight, Shaw pointed out, gradually moving up in weight class through their career. Wright has fought mostly at 154 pounds and feels comfortable at 160, Shaw said.
"I'm gonna be a lot stronger (than Trinidad)," Wright (48-3, 25 knockouts) said. "... I feel great (about the middleweight level). I don't have to lose the extra six pounds."
Predictably, Trinidad (42-1, 35 KOs) wasn't buying it.
"I think in the back of his mind, (Wright) has an idea of how hard I can hit," Trinidad said. "He probably doesn't want to get to May 14. ... He'll see how much punching power I have that day."
Oddsmakers have installed Trinidad as nearly a 2-1 favorite.
Wright said a competitive fight could lead to a rematch, no matter which man wins. Wright has already agreed to a rematch if he beats Trinidad.
"This sport is about the fans," Wright said. "If Tito wins a decision he doesn't deserve, the fans are gonna demand to see the fight again."
Oh, and one more thing: Don't call him Ronald. He likes Winky, a nickname his family has been using for him since he was little, much better.
"Champ? That's cool too," he said. "But I prefer Winky."
Notable
WBO junior welterweight champion Miguel Cotto (23-0, 19 KOs) will risk his belt against 2000 Olympic gold medalist Muhammad Abdullaev (15-1, 12 KOs) on June 11 at Madison Square Garden on a card presented by Top Rank.
Cotto, of Puerto Rico, lost to Abdullaev, of Uzbekistan, in a first-round match at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
The card also features a match pitting unbeaten lightweight Kid Diamond (20-0, 12 KOs) of Las Vegas against former champ Joel Casamayor (31-3, 19 KOs).
Diamond, whose real name is Almazbek Raiymkulov, stopped Lamar Murphy last November at the MGM on the undercard of Marco Antonio Barrera-Erik Morales III.
HBO will televise the fights, which will take place on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade in New York.
Martin has a record of 45-3-2 with 31 knockouts; Rijker is 17-0 with 14 knockouts.
The scheduled 12-rounder will be available on Showtime Pay-Per-View.
archive
