It was a rough and dirty fight, but most boxing fans had seen them rougher and tougher. The difference was that seldom had a nationwide TV audience been treated to so shocking a reminder of boxing's basic brutality. In the ring at Madison Square Garden, Welterweight Champion Benny ("Kid") Paret, 25, was battered unconscious by a furious twelfth-round assault from Challenger Emile Griffith.
Paret lay limp and still, blood running from his eyes and nose. The cameras zeroed in for an endless moment, and better than any ringsider, the stay-at-home boxing buff saw the tragic picture of a fighter who had been...
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