Boxing

Former champ Griffith dies at 75

Emile Griffith, the elegant world welterweight champion whose career was overshadowed by the fatal beating he gave Bennie Paret in a 1962 title bout that darkened all of boxing, died on Tuesday. He was 75. He passed away at an extended care facility in Hempstead, New York, the International Boxing Hall of Fame said. Griffith struggled with pugilistic dementia and required full-time care late in life. He was the first boxer from the US Virgin Islands to become world champion and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990. Griffith often attended fights in New York, especially at Madison Square Garden, where he headlined 23 times.