Montell Griffin and his place in history

[Pastrano]

Where does he rank among the lightheavies of his era?? He was the first man to really give Roy Jones trouble and the only man to beat a young and fit Toney twice-even tho I scored the first fight for Toney by 2 points. I thought Griffin clearly won the second fight. He was known for his unique style, throwing punches from all angles. Save Qawi, he was the shortest famous lhw in history. Whats most astonishing about his victories over Toney and Jones, is that the first Toney fight was a major step up for him in class and that he was only 24 at the time. According to the compubox, he outscored Jones by 141 to 113 punches, 47% accuracy to Jones' 30%. That says a lot.

And then came the great downfall. After getting annihilated by Jones in the rematch, he slowly started building himself back up and after a string of victories he lost against Eric Harding by SD. He had Harding down in round 7, but in the end it wasn't enough. Haven't seen this fight yet, so I dunno if the decision was fair or not. In his next big fight, he made one of my favorites Michalczewski look bad for 3 rounds before Tiger Dariusz turned on his killer instinct and blew him out in the 4th. After beating Derrick Harmon and George Khalid Jones, he was matched against Antonio Tarver, who was hungry for a title and in the shape of his life. Unfortunately Montell was not and tho he put on a brave effort in the early rounds, he was easily defeated by the likely future hall of famer and dropped twice. In his last fight of note, an IBF eliminator against another future HOF candidate Glen Johnson, he was stopped by TKO in the 11th.

[SCtrojansbaby]

B minus level fighter.

[Toney616]

B minus level fighter.

B- level =Journeyman fighter

Griffin was never a journeyman, when he was with Futch. I would class him as B+ fighter when he was with Futch.
He has wins over Toney I(B+), Toney II(B+) and Jones (A)

Post Futch he clearly slipped a notch and I would class him as a B Level type fighter.

[Toney616]

Where does he rank among the lightheavies of his era?? He was the first man to really give Roy Jones trouble and the only man to beat a young and fit Toney twice-even tho I scored the first fight for Toney by 2 points. I thought Griffin clearly won the second fight.

I had him ahead on points against Roy by around 1-2 points. He won that fight fair and square in my eyes. He beat Toney because Toney failed to correct the massive flaw in his style which had been previously exposed by McCallum and Jones. I had him winning both of the Toney fights.

And then came the great downfall. After getting annihilated by Jones in the rematch, he slowly started building himself back up and after a string of victories he lost against Eric Harding by SD. He had Harding down in round 7, but in the end it wasn't enough. Haven't seen this fight yet, so I dunno if the decision was fair or not.

I'm told the decision is debatable.

The size difference against Darius was too big a factor, it was only a matter of time before Darius got to him.

[SCtrojansbaby]

B- level =Journeyman fighter

Griffin was never a journeyman, when he was with Futch. I would class him as B+ fighter when he was with Futch.
He has wins over Toney I(B+), Toney II(B+) and Jones (A)

Post Futch he clearly slipped a notch and I would class him as a B Level type fighter.

C= Journeyman like say Marty Jakubowski or Michele Piccirillo
B minus = short lived champion like Carlos Baldomir or Ricardo Mayorga that is what Griffin is.

[Clegg]

A journeyman is someone who travels around being the opponent for other (usually not even that good) fighters, often on short notice. Someone like Marcus Rhode for example. I don't know much about Jakubowski's career but Piccirillo and Griffin were not journeymen, apart from maybe at the very end of MG's career when he was travelling to Boratland to lose to 5-0 opposition.

[mikeyh1015]

He's the guy that RJJr: "First round, One Punch and he sat down. Dont get me mad cause i'm amped already"

if you dont know? You better ask somebody.

[Pastrano]

He's the guy that RJJr: "First round, One Punch and he sat down. Dont get me mad cause i'm amped already"

if you dont know? You better ask somebody.

Cough cough, nuthugger. I don't want biased opinions, sorry.

[Forza]

Never lived up to his potential. Any man that can whoop toney twice and give a prime RJJ trouble for 8 rounds is obviously a good boxer.

I still don't know what happened in the 2nd RJJ fight. No doubt RJJ sonned him but something seemed "off" with griffin.

[Toney616]

Never lived up to his potential. Any man that can whoop toney twice and give a prime RJJ trouble for 8 rounds is obviously a good boxer.

He was an undersized lhw with an awkward style and an excellent trainer. After Jones one he fell out with Futch and they parted ways.

I still don't know what happened in the 2nd RJJ fight. No doubt RJJ sonned him but something seemed "off" with griffin.

During the lead up to Jones II, Griffin claims that Jones people came into his room and hurried him to get to the ring, stopping him from having enough time to warm up properly.