Benny Paret

Benny Paret
Data
Birth Name	Bernardo Paret
Weight class	Welterweight
nationality	Cuban
birthday	March 14, 1937
place of birth	Santa Clara
Date of death	April 3, 1962
Place of death	new York
style	Left delivery
size	1.71 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	50
Victories	35
Knockout victories	10
Defeats	12
draw	3

Benny "Kid" Paret (born March 14, 1937 in Santa Clara , Cuba as Bernardo Paret , † April 3, 1962 in New York ) was a Cuban boxer .

Professional career

Paret turned pro in Cuba in 1954 at the age of 17. He lost several fights in the initial phase, for example against his compatriot Luis Rodríguez . From 1958 he fought mainly in the USA and steadily worked his way up the welterweight ranking. Among other things, he achieved two wins against the previously unbeaten Victor Zalazar in this phase .

On May 27, 1960 he dethroned Don Jordan and became world champion in welterweight, made a successful title defense against Luis Federico Thompson. In April 1961 he lost the title to his arch rival Emile Griffith by knockout in the thirteenth round, but won it back on points in the same year. In September 1961 he challenged Gene Fullmer for the middleweight title and lost by knockout in the tenth round.

His last fight

On March 24, 1962 there was the third duel for the world welterweight championship against Griffith. Before the fight at Madison Square Garden , Paret Griffith is said to have whispered the words "Fagot, I'll get you both, you and your husband" in his ear. Griffith grew angry and was barely held back by friends.

In the sixth round, Paret had Griffith on the ground and he was saved by the gong when he took heavy hits. In the twelfth round, however, Griffith landed a series of punches and Paret eventually passed out. He fell into a coma and died ten days later at the age of 25.

Many observers blamed the referee Ruby Goldstein for a late termination. Others defended his passivity by pointing out that Paret often simulated being ailing in order to be able to surprise his opponents.

In Ring of Fire , a documentary about the life of Emile Griffiths, the family strongly accused the manager Manuel Alfaro of having set the fight so close (100 days) after the fiasco against Fullmer.

This fight is considered to be the beginning of the end of boxing family entertainment.

Web links

• Benny Paret in the BoxRec database
• Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Article ( Memento of March 11, 2006 in the Internet Archive )