Background
Montell Griffin was born June 6, 1970 in Chicago.
Montell Griffin was born June 6, 1970 in Chicago.
By age 22, Griffin was living in Midway City, California and defeated Frank Vassar of Spokane, Washington in the 1992 United States. Amateur Boxing Championships. He defeated future heavyweight contender Jeremy Williams at the box-offs, to make the 1992 Olympic team Griffin, nicknamed "Ice," began his pro career in 1993.
He rose to prominence when he defeated James Toney twice by controversial decisions in 1995 and 1996.
Jones vs Griffin
A frustrated Jones dropped Griffin with a series of hard and fast, head and body punches in round nine, and then hit him again twice on the head after Griffin had taken a knee on the canvas, leading to Jones"s disqualification. They had an immediate rematch, and on August 21, Jones regained the WBC title by knocking out Griffin in the first round.
After the loss to Jones, Griffin remained a top-ranked light-heavyweight for six years. Michalczewski vs Griffin
In the fourth, Griffin was twice staggered, and took 14 unanswered shots to the head and gloves, which forced referee Joe Cortez to stop the bout.
Tarver vs Griffin
After defeating Derrick Harmon and George Khalid Jones by unanimous decisions, Griffin earned a shot at the vacant WBC/IBF titles against Antonio Tarver in 2003, losing a wide decision.
Now in his mid-thirties, a faded Griffin would go on to lose to Rico Hoye by split decision, Julio César González when the bout was stopped in the early goings on a technicality and sent to the scorecards, and Glencoffe Johnson by TKO 11. All three were IBF eliminators. He also lost on points to Beibut Shumenov
Minor World Titles:
Regional/International Titles:
WBC Continental Americas Light Heavyweight (three occasions)
Griffin compiled an amateur record of 36-5.
At the 1992 Olympic Trials in Worcester, Massachusetts, Griffin was outpointed in the final by Jeremy Williams.
However, at the Olympic Box-offs he outpointed Williams twice, to earn an Olympic bid at light-heavyweight. His Olympic results were:
Torsten May (Germany) lost through controversial scoring of points whereby some of his points were credited to May.