YOUNG GRIFFO vs The Featherweights and Lighweghts

[McGoorty]

I am inspired by Marcegiano to open a Thread on all things Young Griffo, former Feaherweight champion of the world and buddy of JOHN. L. Sullivan. I invite all to compare Griffo to any feather or LW you like and on anything related to Griffo and his era. Who would have beaten him , who would he beat ? and how good was he. I am reading about him in the Mike Casey archives and will give the link on my next post on thread.

[McGoorty]

Griffo ????

I am inspired by Marcegiano to open a Thread on all things Young Griffo, former Feaherweight champion of the world and buddy of JOHN. L. Sullivan. I invite all to compare Griffo to any feather or LW you like and on anything related to Griffo and his era. Who would have beaten him , who would he beat ? and how good was he. I am reading about him in the Mike Casey archives and will give the link on my next post on thread.

Anybody heard of Young Griffo out there. Are we short on historians ???? He was a great fighter and one of the most colourful types to ever step on a ring.-------------- One of the things he used to do was put a handkerchief down and bet that nobody in the bar could box him off it, apparently nobody could, Griffo could dodge them all, without even moving his feet.,,,,,,,now that's some bar trick.

[McGoorty]

Where are the HISTORIANS ????

[McGoorty]

Young Griffo's Record--236 Fights--70 wins( 35K.O. )--9 losses ( 4 by K.O. )--44 draws,.......Newspaper Decisions--...WON 8-- Lost 1-- Drawn 3,..........His KO Percentage was 14.83,.............,Griffo fought great fighters, like Torpedo Billy Murphy--Joe Gans--Tommy Ryan--George 'Kid' Lavigne--George Dixon--Jack McAuliffe--with wins, draws and losses amongst them, he had series with virtually everybody ------- Griffo is recognised as one of the greatest defensive fighters of them all. On the down side, he was an uncontrollable alcoholic, but that didn't stop him, sometimes they found him in a terrible state on the morning of a fight. They didn't bother sobering him up, he kept on drinking,----- then he'd jump in the ring, pissed, and then thrash his opponent silly. One wonders how good he'd have been if he didn't drink, well just think about it, he had several draws with Gans and Dixon, AND HE WAS DRUNK THEN TOO------------- """DAMN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MonsieurGeorges]

Everybody knows he was good but there is no footage of him, like a dozen photos. Nobody can say with any degree of certainty how we would of done. It isn't like with Greb where at least we have tape of Loughran, Tunney, etc.

[McGoorty]

Everybody knows he was good but there is no footage of him, like a dozen photos. Nobody can say with any degree of certainty how we would of done. It isn't like with Greb where at least we have tape of Loughran, Tunney, etc.

Of course you are right about that, in fact he won the Featherweight title in 1892 and lost it before they started filming fights,.... but of course that doesn't mean he wasn't great, it's not as if they fought without experts not seeing them, if that was the case, yheir names would not come down to us. Comparing fighters from different era's is tough.,,,,,,,,,,, .......Speaking of tough,..There isn't ONE single boxer of the last 40 years that could even come close to the HARDNESS of fighters from the 1700's -- 1925 ,,. this is certain. those days something like 2 in 5 human beings DIED before the age of Ten,.... EVERYBODY HAD TO BE TOUGH,, or they would be dead,............ thanks for posting.

[McGoorty]

A Startling Newspaper report about Young Griffo, From The SALT LAKE HERALD ;- 1st MAY 1898 :---- titled :- "PUGILIST KILLED BY YOUNG GRIFFO WAS NOT "BULL" McCARTHY" ;----------Sacramento, California, April 30. The pugilist who met his death at the hands of Young Griffo was not "Bull" McCarthy of Philadelphia, but Joseph K. DEVITT, a fighter hailing from the Quaker city and foisted on an unsuspecting public as McCarthy. A letter found among Devitt's effects showed that he left Philadelphia for New York where he shipped on a vessel bound for the Hawaiian Islands. He subsequently arrived in San Francisco where the "FAKE" fight was arranged. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Not a lot of information was there,,seems like the "FAKE" fight was all too real....... What a great fighter like Griffo was doing fighting such an unknown boxer is beyond me,..... is that classed as murder ?? ....... I mean, a world class guy killing a total fake.... Must have been a possibility..... Anybody got something to add ?????????????????

[Bundana]

A Startling Newspaper report about Young Griffo, From The SALT LAKE HERALD ;- 1st MAY 1898 :---- titled :- "PUGILIST KILLED BY YOUNG GRIFFO WAS NOT "BULL" McCARTHY" ;----------Sacramento, California, April 30. The pugilist who met his death at the hands of Young Griffo was not "Bull" McCarthy of Philadelphia, but Joseph K. DEVITT, a fighter hailing from the Quaker city and foisted on an unsuspecting public as McCarthy. A letter found among Devitt's effects showed that he left Philadelphia for New York where he shipped on a vessel bound for the Hawaiian Islands. He subsequently arrived in San Francisco where the "FAKE" fight was arranged. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Not a lot of information was there,,seems like the "FAKE" fight was all too real....... What a great fighter like Griffo was doing fighting such an unknown boxer is beyond me,..... is that classed as murder ?? ....... I mean, a world class guy killing a total fake.... Must have been a possibility..... Anybody got something to add ?????????????????

What makes this even more strange, is the fact that Griffo had previously fought McCarthy twice - so didn't he wonder, why "McCarthy" didn't look familiar?

[McGoorty]

What makes this even more strange, is the fact that Griffo had previously fought McCarthy twice - so didn't he wonder, why "McCarthy" didn't look familiar?

Wow... fair dinkum ???/....... that tears it,... Was Griffo bent ???...... did he learn this stuff from John L. ?????....... That fight was certainly crooked, I doubt if Griffo wanted to have the poor buggers death on his hands though..... a tragic event.

[McGoorty]

I have had reignited interest in Griffo so I am looking for old newspaper reports of his fights and will put all links in here. Here is a report from the 1890 world title fight with Torpedo Billy Murphy underneath a story featuring Paddy Slavin and John L Sullivan
http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d...18900928.2.13#