TV Movie? Ring of Fire: Emile Griffith

[Gamblour.]

I dunno if this is an exclusive TV movie or not. Anyhow.

This was a doc shown on USA tonight. Wow, what a moving story. You really feel this man's short rise to glory before he accidentally killed Paret in the ring. You feel the boxing world of the 50s and 60s. You feel New York in all of it. The era footage is great. And I really loved seeing this man's redemption 43 years in the making. Great great film.

[MacGuffin]

'Ring of Fire' Tells of Boxing Death, Changed Life

He set out to make a fictional film, but director Dan Klores said the reality of boxing champion Emile Griffith's fateful life -- a dead rival, a changed sport and rumors of homosexuality -- proved far more compelling than anything he could dream up.

The documentary "Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story," which airs on the USA Network on Wednesday, recalls events surrounding Griffith's 1962 battle for the world welterweight championship with Benny "The Kid" Paret.

That match, dubbed the "Fight of the Decade" at the time, led to Paret's death after Griffith pummeled him into a coma. Paret died in a hospital 10 days later.

"I never wanted to do a sports documentary or a boxing documentary," said Klores, who co-directed and co-produced with Ron Berger. "It was issues of sex and the media, politics and isolation. ... I felt some kind of connection there."

In the fight's aftermath, New York boxing officials launched an investigation into the sport. TV networks that once aired weekly bouts pulled matches off the air and effectively began a 10-year moratorium on televised boxing.

That is all detailed in "Ring of Fire," using television broadcasts from the 1960s and interviews with journalists like Pete Hamill and Jimmy Breslin who covered the event.

Perhaps most compelling is what occurred before the match -- Paret's utterance of "maricon," Spanish for "faggot" in Griffith's ear -- and how people responded.

"It was whispered about and printed, but it was clearly swept under the carpet," said Klores "Those in immediate boxing circles all thought Emile was gay, but no one would say it."

New York Times reporter Howard Tuckner wrote about Paret's slur, but the newspaper's editors changed his use of the word "homosexual" to "unman," Tuckner recalls in "Ring of Fire."

Rusty Rubin, managing editor of ringsports.com, said he did not believe the gay rumors hurt Griffith's career.

"The key issue really should be is your talent worthy of being a champion," he said. "Emile was an excellent fighter."

But the talk definitely affected the boxer's life as detailed in Klores' documentary.

Griffith has never admitted to being gay and he still does not in the documentary. But he was known to frequent gay bars, and in 1996 was beaten badly after leaving one such bar. The beating was deemed by investigators to be a hate crime.

Griffith fell into despair after Paret's death, even though he staged a comeback in the ring.

In the documentary, the 67-year-old former champion talks about the emotional pain his opponent's death caused him and cries on meeting Paret's now-adult son.

"To be such a gentle man," Klores said of Griffith, "and to live in such a violent world."