Montell Griffin

Montell Griffin
Data
Birth Name	Montell Julian Griffin
Weight class	Light heavyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	June 6, 1970
place of birth	Chicago
style	Left delivery
size	1.70 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	59
Victories	50
Knockout victories	30th
Defeats	8th
draw	1

Montell Griffin (born June 6, 1970 in Chicago ) is an American boxer and former WBC world light heavyweight champion.

amateur

Griffin beat John Ruiz on the way to victory at the 1992 US Light Heavyweight Championship. In the Olympic qualifications he was defeated by Jeremy Williams, but then hit him twice, which Williams acknowledged with conspiracy theories. When he took part in the Olympic Games in Barcelona , he failed in the quarterfinals against Torsten May . His record 36-5.

professional

In 1993 he turned professional under the famous trainer Eddie Futch , but couldn't really convince due to lack of talent. When he competed against the rising superstar James Toney in 1995 , many saw it only as a build-up fight for Toney, who had to really kick back after his clear defeat against Roy Jones Jr. But Toney boxed phlegmatic, Griffin did his best and he won the fight by a wafer. Many journalists and of course Toney saw it differently, so that in 1996 there was a rematch. The fight was similar, however: Toney was again weak in form, the duel was very even and the result was a wafer-thin, controversial point decision for Griffin.

1997 Montell Griffin got a world championship fight against the title holder of the WBC association, Roy Jones. Against what many experts consider the best boxer of the time, Griffin was able to keep the fight open for a long time. In the ninth round - only just behind on points - he was knocked down by his opponent. Although Griffin was already on the ground, Jones checked again and was disqualified for it. It was Jones' only defeat in his heyday. The revenge in the same year Griffin lost significantly by first-round knockout.

In 1998 Griffin lost to southpaw Eric Harding , who had only 14 fights , but was still considered world class. Dariusz Michalczewski , who at that time was looking for a well-known opponent to defend his WBO title, gave Griffin a new World Cup chance. However, Griffin did not go into the match one hundred percent prepared, as he - as a replacement for the original opponent David Telesco - was only accepted a month before the date of the fight. Despite these quarrels, Griffin was able to determine the fight at the beginning and win the first three rounds. In the fourth round, however, Griffin was hit several times by the defending champion and taken out of the fight by the referee only a few seconds before the end of the round.

After Roy Jones was temporarily promoted to heavyweight division, Griffin was allowed to box for the vacant titles of the WBC and IBF in 2003. However , Griffin showed a poor performance against his opponent and compatriot Antonio Tarver . After he was sent into the ring dust by his opponent in the first round, he had to go down again in the finals. Nevertheless, Griffin managed to save himself over the remainder of the fight, at the end of which a unanimous victory on points Tarver was certain.

In 2005, Griffin lost to Julio César González .

Web links

• Montell Griffin in the BoxRec database