All’s Well that Ends Well for Griffin in Boxoff Final

Possibly the most intriguing story of the 1992 U.S. Olympic boxing team is the last story about its selection. It’s about The Man From Nowhere, a boxer who refused to pack up and go home when he was told to forget about Barcelona.

First, Montell Griffin got a lawyer. Then, with some legal help, he rode into Phoenix on Wednesday and on Sunday afternoon secured the last berth on the Olympic team.

A light-heavyweight, Griffin, who has claimed Midway City, Studio City and Chicago as hometowns in the last two weeks, powered his way past Jeremy Williams of Long Beach on a 33-8 decision.

Griffin’s one-sided victory was the only rubber match at these boxoffs, held inside a sweltering tent at The Pointe at South Mountain. He became the third Southern Californian to make the 12-boxer Olympic team.

Williams, a graceful 6-footer who played football at Long Beach Poly High, did not exit gracefully.

In the ring, he seemed unhappy with the decision, then left the ring abruptly and, with his father/trainer, Charles Williams, headed resolutely to the interview tent.

There, before several dozen astonished reporters, he sat down at a table and announced:

“This was a bunch of racist. . . . All these people are racists--you saw what (USA Boxing judges) did to Ivan Robinson and (how they scored) the Pepe Reilly bout. This was all racist. . . .”

Then, Williams stood up, grabbed the table and overturned it. Microphones, tape recorders, water glasses were sent flying. As he did so, he shouted: “I’ve trained all my life for this. . . .”

He then left the room, with one final shout: “You all know he didn’t beat me!”

Both Williams and Griffin are black. Moreover, no one else could be found who believed Williams had won the bout. Griffin had computer scoring leads of 11-5 and 23-6 after two rounds. Griffin was so sure he had won, he seemed to slow the pace at times during the third round, as though he was protecting a big lead.

Williams’ reference to the Julian Wheeler-Ivan Robinson and Pepe Reilly-Jesse Briseno bouts was to controversial decisions rendered Saturday.

Minutes after Williams’ heated exit, after order had been restored, Griffin entered the interview tent and sat down.

First question: “Montell, are you aware of what just happened?”

First answer: “Yeah, I just made the Olympic team.”

He said it with a wink and a smile as he unwrapped his hands.

“He didn’t want to box me here. I could see that at Ft. Huachuca (Ariz.), when I beat (Terry) McGroom,” he said.

“(Williams) was out on his feet from the second round on. My jab was working good--in fact, I probably should have been double jabbing him.”

Griffin is a 5-foot-7 slugger about whom few in amateur boxing had heard six months ago. He boxed in Chicago as a boy, but his mother made him quit the sport when he was 12, when his father died.

He said he moved to Midway City 18 months ago, trained briefly under famed Huntington Beach trainer Jesse Reid, then moved to Studio City. He has no trainer now, he says, and still employs skills taught to him by his father.

In what was thought of at the time as an upset, Griffin won a national championship last February. But because the more experienced Williams didn’t compete, many discounted it. Then Griffin defeated three Europeans in two international matches, and Olympic Coach Joe Byrd began to take notice.

At the Olympic trials tournament in Worcester, Mass., two weeks ago, Griffin lost to Williams in the title bout, 34-17, while battling a head cold.

But here the story turns. The boxoffs selection committee, on a 4-1 vote, invited Terry McGroom to the boxoffs, not Griffin. Griffin, who had beaten McGroom in the semifinals at Worcester, was furious.

He retained Los Angeles lawyer Mitchell Stein, who threatened USA Boxing with a $100,000 lawsuit if Griffin wasn’t put into the boxoffs. A compromise was reached, and Griffin and McGroom boxed in a “pre-boxoff boxoff” Tuesday at the Olympic team’s Ft. Huachuca training camp. Griffin won.

Even then, his prospects seemed dim when he arrived in Phoenix on Wednesday. He was 0-2 against Williams. And he had to beat him twice here to make the Olympic team--which is exactly what he did.

Boxing far more aggressively than he did in Worcester, he ran up a 31-10 victory over Williams on Friday and did it again Sunday. As another light-heavyweight, Evander Holyfield, did eight years ago, Griffin had made the Olympic team in the most difficult way--beating a trials champion twice.

And Holyfield didn’t need a lawyer.

Williams seemed to hit his peak between Olympic Games. He won national championships in 1989 and 1990 and was at one time a favorite to make the 1992 Olympic team.

And then The Man From Nowhere rode into town.

How good are these 1992 U.S. Olympic boxers?

Said Byrd:

“I like this team, very much. You never know how you’ll come out in the draw, but if we get some breaks there, I’ll predict four or five gold medals. We’re the team everybody has to beat.”

The Olympic boxing tournament starts with a blind draw, meaning an American and a Cuban might be matched in a preliminary or quarterfinal bout. If Americans are at opposite ends of a bracket from their strongest opponents, the chance is greater that they will meet in a medal-round match.

Byrd wouldn’t identify his gold-medal picks, but most longtime Olympic boxing watchers see light-flyweight Eric Griffin and super-heavyweight Larry Donald as solid gold-medal favorites.

Griffin, 5-3 and 106 pounds, is the world champion and has been ranked No. 1 in the world the past three years. He has beaten his principal rival, Rogelio Marcelo of Cuba, five times since 1989.

Donald, 6-3 and 222 pounds, has the perfect style for amateur boxing’s new computer scoring system, which rewards fast-moving boxers who throw accurate jabs in the center of the ring. He also has beaten a top gold medal favorite, Cuban Roberto Balado.

Most would cast lightweight Oscar De La Hoya, light-welterweight Vernon Forrest and light-middleweight Raul Marquez as near-gold medal picks, or at least big favorites for silver or bronze medals.

De La Hoya probably has more talent than anyone on the team, but has a tendency toward soft first rounds. Also, his victory over Cuban Julio Gonzales this year was razor-thin, and he was beaten at the World Championships last November by German Marco Rudolph.

Forrest, in the trials and boxoffs, showed strength, consistency and the ability to put together three solid rounds. And he has beaten a top Cuban, Candelario Duvergel.

Marquez is probably this team’s hardest hitter, but when he becomes caught up in a slugging match, he puts himself at great risk. He has a powerful, effective jab, and that punch alone could take him to a gold medal.

Most say the following seven boxers probably need a big break or two to reach the medal round: Flyweight Tim Austin, bantamweight Sergio Reyes, featherweight Julian Wheeler, welterweight Pepe Reilly, middleweight Chris Byrd (the coach’s son), light-heavyweight Montell Griffin and heavyweight Dannel Nicholson.