On April 25, 1966, Emile Griffith stepped up to challenge middleweight champion Dick Tiger at Madison Square Garden. Griffith, weighing 151 lbs to Tiger's 160 lbs, pulled off a unanimous decision over 15 rounds.
The judges' scores revealed a tight contest: Referee Arthur Mercante saw it 9-5 for Griffith, Judge Tony Castellano's card initially showed a 7-7-1 tie but favoured Griffith on supplementary scoring, and Judge Frank Forbes had it 7-6 for the challenger.
Tiger, a slight 8-5 favourite coming into the bout, was defending both the WBA and WBC Middleweight Titles. The ninth round proved pivotal as Griffith floored Tiger—the first time in Tiger's career he'd been knocked down.
The Garden crowd of 14,934 responded with boos to the final decision, a verdict many saw as controversial. Most ringside sportswriters—17 out of 22—felt Tiger had done enough to win. The gate for the night totalled $147,536, marking a notable financial success, even if the decision left a bitter taste for many fans.
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