Young Griffo

On 26 December 1889, he fought Nipper Peakes in Melbourne for the Australian Featherweight Championship winning in an eight-round points decision. He held the title for several years defending it against Abe Willis and George McKenzie in Sydney in 1890.[2]

Billy Murphy, World Featherweight Champion

He first took the World Featherweight Title against Torpedo Billy Murphy on 2 September 1890 at the White Horse Hotel in Sydney in a fifteen-round decision. It was one of the first World Title matches ever held in Australia. At the time, the United States only recognized bouts that took place in North America, and so did not fully accept Griffo's claim to the World Title, but both Australia and Great Britain did.[2][7] Subsequent to his death, the World Boxing Organization accepted Griffo's claim to the World Featherweight Title.

He defended the British and Australian version of the World Featherweight title against Paddy Moran on 4 November 1890 in a 13-round decision in Sydney.[2] He defended the World Featherweight Title against George Powell on 12 March 1891 in a twenty-round disqualification in Sydney.[2] Griffo defended the World Featherweight Title a third time against Torpedo Billy Murphy again in Sydney, Australia on 22 July 1891, winning in a 20-second round disqualification.[7]

In his final defense of the World Featherweight Title, he defeated Mick McCarthy on 22 March 1892 in Sydney in a fourth-round decision. He eventually vacated the title to fight at a higher weight.

He fought for the Australian Lightweight Title on 25 July 1892 against Jim Barron in Sydney, Australia in a 22-round bout that was declared a draw. The referee called the bout when both boxers appeared too battered and exhausted to continue. According to one source, an audience of 2,500 were present.[8]

On 3 January 1894, he fought future World Featherweight champion Solly Smith at the Tivoli Theatre in Chicago to a six-round draw. Smith, who had distinguished himself by the time he met Griffo, would take the World Featherweight Championship the following year.

On 23 January 1894, he fought an eight-round draw with John Van Heest in Chicago, making an impressive performance.[1][11]

On 17 March 1894, Griffo defeated Ike Weir at the Second Regiment Armory in Chicago. Griffo, as a lightweight, outweighed Weir considerably and dominated the bout, which was stopped by the police in the third round when Weir was down. Weir announced retirement after the bout but returned to the ring for a few more professional bouts and exhibitions.[12] Although the bout officially was called a draw by the referee, Griffo knocked Weir down twice in the third round, with Weir taking a while to get to his feet. Many in the crowd were displeased with the official Draw decision.[13] According to the Inter Ocean, as many as 5,000 were in attendance to watch "three of the fastest, fiercest and most brutal rounds ever fought in an American prize ring". Young Griffo made a veritable chopping block of Ike O'Neil Weir, the "Belfast Spider".[14] It is important to note that according to one source, Griffo may have outweighed Wier by as much as 30 lbs. during the bout, but discrepancies in the weights of opponents was more common in this era of boxing.[15] Several newspaper accounts of the fight, written after Griffo's death, wrote that he had been drinking before the bout, but by most accounts he had the edge during most of the fighting, and Weir was a worthy opponent.[16]

On 27 August 1894, he lost to the famed seven-year undefeated World Lightweight Champion Jack McAuliffe in Brooklyn, New York, losing in a 10-round points decision. McAuliffe had lost his World Lightweight Championship only the year before. Griffo had lost few of his fights by referee decision before his bout with the legendary McAuliffe. Due to McAuliffe's extraordinary record as lightweight champion, he was considered one of Griffo's most skilled opponents.

Griffo fought an assortment of opponents who would at one time hold world championships.

On 10 February 1894, he fought future World Lightweight Champion George "Kid" Lavigne for the first time in an eight-round draw in Chicago. On 12 October 1895, he fought Lavigne in a 20-round draw by points decision in Queens, New York. Lavigne would take the World Lightweight Championship only the following year.[2]

He subsequently fought an eight-round draw with the hard-hitting red head boxer Johnny Griffin at the Casino in Boston on 23 April 1894.

On 17 September 1894, he knocked out Eddie Loeber in only 2 minutes 36 seconds of the first round at the Seaside Athletic Club in Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, wrote that the two men were very "poorly matched", and that it was a relief when the referee Dominick McAffrey stopped the bout. Hundreds of spectators struggled to shake hands with Griffo after the fight's conclusion.[17]

On 4 March 1895, he defeated Horace Leeds at the Seaside Athletic Club in Coney Island in a 12-round bout in front of a sizable crowd of 4000 spectators. One reporter believed Griffo to be over the 133 pound weight limit, and fighting at a weight of as much as 140. The fighting was fierce, and both men were described as being "badly pummeled" in a close bout that had the betting about even.[18][19] He lost to Leeds on 7 August 1897, in a four-round newspaper decision in Atlantic City, New Jersey.[2] During this period, he was managed by Hugh Behan, but Griffo had an assortment of trainers in his career.[20]

On 28 October 1895, he fought the great Black Canadian champion George Dixon in a 10-round draw by points decision in Manhattan.[2] Dixon had taken the World Featherweight Championship in 1891, and was one of the first recognized world champions. Griffo would fight Dixon two additional times in well attended matches. One source described their 20-round draw as a "battle that bristled throughout with glittering skill and generalship."[21] On 19 January 1895, they would fight a 25-round draw in New York's Coney Island. His manager Hughey Behan had him jailed briefly before the Coney Island bout with Dixon so he could train in a sober state.

On 11 April 1896, he was arrested at a Casino he frequented in College Point, Long Island, on charges of assault against William Connors, a town trustee. He was discharged shortly after to attend a scheduled bout against boxer Charles McKeever.[22] On 13 April, the day he would have faced trial on the assault charge, he lost the 20-round bout at the Empire Athletic Club with McKeever in Queens, New York, on a points decision of the referee.[2] On 9 June 1896, he was arrested for driving intoxicated and disorderly conduct in Coney Island, New York, and was arraigned at the Coney Island Police Court. He was sentenced to twenty-five days in prison after pleading guilty.[23] Around 20 November 1897, he was arrested for vagrancy in St. Louis, Missouri, but several nights drinking at a bar may have precipitated the arrest. He was not held for long and fought a bout the following month in California.[24] On 28 September 1898, he was arrested in Chicago found running naked on State Street for a quarter mile. He reportedly assaulted the three officers who tried to arrest him. Another source states he had been drinking the night the incident occurred.[25][26] On 14 January 1899, he was arrested and brought to Chicago's Harrison Street Police Station for struggling with a police officer to prevent the arrest of a Tom McGinty from the Clover Leaf Saloon, around 2:00 AM but released shortly after.[27] He was sent to an insane asylum on 24 March 1899, after being judged insane in Chicago.[28] He was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery against James H. Wilkerson on 9 September 1901, but only one source mentions this arrest.[29] On 2 February 1902, he was discovered in the cold in a vacant lot near the Bridewell in Chicago, where he had been serving a sentence for disorderly conduct. It was feared he would lose his hands from frostbite.[30] On 6 February 1902, he was sent back to an asylum.[31] Around 25 February 1903, he was sent back to the Bridewell in Chicago for three months for "making trouble".[32]

Champion Joe Gans

He fought the legendary World Light and Welterweight Champion Joe Gans three times, but never winning a bout. Griffo's 18 November 1895 bout with Gans in Gan's home of Baltimore, Maryland, appeared to some to be only an exhibition, with which many in the crowd were disappointed. A few even considered the bout a "fix", as Griffo told the audience, he had agreed not to "put out" Gans during the bout.[33][34] Griffo considered his 15-round draw in Athens, Pennsylvania, at the Olympic Athletic Club on 21 September 1897 one of his best, as well as one of Gans' most skilled displays.[35] Of his 10 July 1900 bout with Gans, an eighth-round loss by technical knockout at the Seaside Athletic Club, one source wrote, the referee stopped the bout one minute and 30 econds into the eighth round when "Griffo was so far gone that another punch from Gans would have put him out." Griffo was reported to have shown some of his early form, but was no match for the blows and conditioning of the "old master" Joe Gans, and was believed by one reporter to have had less stamina as the fight wound on.[36] Griffo was down in both the first and seventh rounds, and he took off nearly a year from his boxing after this last fight with Gans.[2]

He met one time World Featherweight and Lightweight champion Frank Erne on 20 December 1895 in a four-round non-title fight that resulted in a draw in Buffalo, New York.[2]

He defeated Torpedo Billy Murphy in a non-title match ending in an eight-round points decision at the Casino in Boston on 7 May 1894. His 20-round draw bout with Jack Everhardt on 10 July 1896 in Buffalo, New York, was billed as a World 135 pound title. He had previously met Everhardt in a pre-arranged six-round draw in Brooklyn on 25 May, at which the crowd would have preferred a decision by the referee. He lost to World Welter and Middleweight Champion Tommy Ryan on 21 June 1897 in a non-title match in a third-round technical knockout in Brooklyn, New York.[2]

On 15 August 1896, he was sentenced in Brooklyn to one year in prison for a sexual assault on William Gottlieb the previous April. He did not box from August 1896 until June 1897.[37][38]

On 12 July 1897, he fought well known lightweight Owen Ziegler, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a six-round bout, which he won by newspaper decision. He considered Ziegler one of his more important opponents.[2][39]

He fought a close bout with Horace Leeds on 7 August 1897 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in which The Philadelphia Inquirer felt Leeds had received more points.[2]

On 18 November 1897, Griffo was believed to have been drunk in a contest with Tom Tracey at the Colliseum in St. Louis. He rolled out of the boxing ring in the first round, and referee George Siler declared a No Contest.[2][40] One source confirmed his story that he had been in a car accident before the fight which was the cause of his inability to complete the first round. The San Francisco Call wrote that Griffo's vehicle had been struck by a street car on the way to the bout, and that he had suffered a sprained shoulder as a result. He and two of his seconds were treated for injuries received as a result of the accident.[41]

He was defeated in an upset by Frank McConnell before three thousand spectators on 3 February 1898 in a 15-rounds points decision in San Francisco, California. McConnell only recently emerged from the amateur ranks, and had relatively little experience as a professional. Griffo showed great defensive skills in several rounds, but McConnell won the bout by taking the offensive throughout most of the fight.[42]

On 26 March 1898, he won a bout with the well known Black boxer, Young Peter Jackson in Red Bluff, California on a fourth-round disqualification. A few at ringside claimed that Jackson was actually Joe Gans, but this was found to be untrue.[43]

On the evening of 27 April 1898, he fought Joseph Devitt, who gave the name of the boxer "Bull" McCarthy, in Sacramento, California. Griffo won the 20-round bout by knockout, but Devitt died the following evening of his injuries at Sister's Hospital. Devitt was diagnosed with a brain concussion, likely caused by a rain of blows to his head during the bout. Griffo was briefly taken into custody on charges of manslaughter as a result of the fight. The tragic result was a source of strong remorse for Griffo but it did not deter him from continuing his profession.[2][44]

All newspaper decisions are officially regarded as "no decision" bouts and are not counted in the win/loss/draw column.

Record with the inclusion of newspaper decisions to the win/loss/draw column.