Carlos Monzon vs Emile Griffith

World middleweight champion Carlos Monzon retained his title by stopping former champion Emile Griffith in the fourteenth round at Luna Park in Buenos Aires on September 25, 1971. Monzon weighed 159lb and Griffith 156lb for the scheduled 15-round contest, refereed by Ramon Berumen of Mexico. The Argentine was making the second defence of the WBA and WBC championships he had taken from Nino Benvenuti in Rome ten months earlier and, for the first time as champion, was defending them before his own public. Reports varied over the size of the crowd, placing it between approximately 19,000 and 23,000. There was also disagreement over the official finishing time, with 2:32 generally appearing in the record while an Associated Press report gave 2:46.

Griffith represented considerably more than another challenger. At 33, he had already been champion at welterweight and middleweight and had fought at world level for a decade. He came into the contest after ten consecutive victories and had secured the championship opportunity by defeating French middleweight Nessim Max Cohen at Madison Square Garden in July. Monzon was four years younger, substantially taller and possessed the longer reach. Those physical advantages were important because Griffith’s best chance was to get underneath the champion’s jab and work at close quarters. Monzon’s task was to prevent him establishing that position.

There was little separation in the opening round. Both men were cautious, throwing long punches while measuring distance and making few firm commitments. Monzon became more purposeful in the second, directing punches to the body and using his long left to keep Griffith at the edge of range. The challenger tried to close the distance but missed frequently. Griffith improved in the third and got through with punches to the body after Monzon had landed a hard right to the head. It was one of Griffith’s better early rounds, although Monzon continued to have success whenever he could straighten his punches before the shorter man got inside.

Monzon’s control became clearer from the fourth. His long arms enabled him to catch Griffith as the challenger moved forward, and he countered effectively with both hands. Griffith kept trying different angles, occasionally making Monzon give ground, but he had to work hard to reach his preferred distance. In the fifth, Monzon’s left jab and straight right became more consistent. He caught Griffith cleanly during a strong exchange which brought the crowd to its feet for the first time. Griffith answered in the sixth and succeeded in landing several punches of his own, but Monzon’s lateral movement prevented him from maintaining pressure, and the champion again finished the exchanges more accurately.

The seventh produced some of the hardest punching of the fight so far. Monzon landed a strong right which Griffith took well, and the challenger immediately countered to the champion’s face. Griffith’s experience allowed him to answer whenever Monzon became careless, but he could not consistently overcome the reach disadvantage. Monzon’s jab continued to interrupt his advance and forced him to begin again from outside. The eighth and ninth were quieter. Monzon continued to score with the left and remained the man controlling the distance, though Griffith stayed competitive and refused to allow the champion an uncontested rhythm.

Griffith enjoyed one of his best spells in the tenth. After a slow period in which both men appeared to be feeling the pace, he forced Monzon towards the ropes and landed a right to the face. The challenger took the round on the strength of his late work. Monzon responded in the eleventh and, during the closing half-minute, landed three solid right hands that suggested Griffith was beginning to tire. By the twelfth, the cumulative effect of Monzon’s work was more apparent. Griffith was still advancing, but his attacks had lost some of their sharpness, and he was absorbing increasingly heavy counters while attempting to get close.

The thirteenth left Griffith in difficulty. Monzon maintained the jab and followed it with the right hand as the challenger’s movement slowed. Griffith had spent much of the evening trying to cross a considerable gap in height and reach, and the effort was beginning to show. He returned for the fourteenth, plainly tired and was soon driven backwards. Monzon trapped him in his own corner and opened with both hands. Griffith crouched low beneath the attack but was no longer answering effectively. His arms dropped, and Monzon continued striking almost without reply until Berumen stepped between them and stopped the contest. There was no knockdown, but the challenger was in no condition to defend himself intelligently when the referee intervened.

At the time of the stoppage, Monzon was comfortably ahead on all three official scorecards. Hector Chaumont had him leading 130-127, Leonardo Franchini 130-125 and Jose Folgaray 130-123. Griffith afterwards said Monzon’s reach had made it extremely difficult for him to work to the body, although he maintained that he had not been tired when the contest was stopped. Whatever his view of the ending, the scorecards showed that he required a dramatic recovery to regain the championship. Monzon had not overwhelmed him immediately, but had gradually imposed his advantages with a persistent jab, straight right and controlled counter-punching. The victory confirmed the Argentine’s position as the leading middleweight of the period and extended a championship reign which would continue until his retirement six years later. Griffith received another opportunity against Monzon in 1973 and went the full 15 rounds in a much closer contest, but in Buenos Aires in 1971 the champion had steadily taken the fight away from him before forcing the stoppage.

This was a proper clash of styles. Griffith was a brilliant, experienced fighter who had already won world titles at welterweight and middleweight, but Monzon was a horrible man to fight if you needed to get inside. He was tall, rangy, patient and knew exactly how to use that long jab to keep you where he wanted you.

What I notice with Monzon is how little he wastes. He doesn’t bounce around for the sake of it or throw six punches when two will do. He measures you with the jab, keeps you turning, then brings that straight right through when you’re trying to close the gap. Griffith had moments because he was too good not to, but he spent most of the fight trying to get into a range Monzon refused to give him.

By the later rounds,, the physical difference was telling. Griffith kept coming, but he was having to work twice as hard to get close enough to land. In the fourteenth, Monzon finally trapped him and let his hands go until the referee had seen enough.

For me, this is classic Monzon. Nothing flashy, nothing wasted, control. Griffith was one of the best fighters of his era, and Monzon made him look small, frustrated and increasingly short of answers.