Emile Griffith is an old man now, but his round face lights up like a child's when he puts on his old boxing robe. He does not look like someone who would kill a man with his hands. But that's exactly what he did the night of March 24, 1962, during a televised boxing match against welterweight champion Benny Paret. Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story, a documentary from Dan Klores and Ron Berger (USA, April 20, 9 p.m. E.T.), searingly remembers a contest that crossed the invisible line into a killing.
At the weigh-in, Paret, a Cuban immigrant, called Griffith "maricón"--a Spanish slur...
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