Montell Julian Griffin (born June 6, 1970) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2011. He held the World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight title in 1997. At regional level, he held multiple light heavyweight championships, including the NABF title twice between 1996 and 2003; and the USBA title from 2006 to 2007.

Early life 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 U.S. Amateur Boxing Championships. He defeated future heavyweight contender Jeremy Williams at the box-offs, to make the 1992 Olympic team.

Amateur career Griffin compiled an amateur record of 36-5. He won the 1992 United States Amateur Light Heavyweight title.

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: France Mabiletsa (Botswana) won on points Yo-Da Ko (South Korea) won on points Torsten May (Germany) lost through controversial scoring of points whereby some of his points were credited to May

Professional career

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. The second victory over Toney earned Griffin a lucrative bout against WBC champion Roy Jones Jr.

Griffin vs. Jones Jr.

After his 1996 win over Toney, Griffin landed a shot at WBC light-heavyweight title holder Roy Jones Jr. Griffin handed Jones his first professional defeat via a disqualification. 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.

Rebuilding After the loss to Jones, Griffin remained a top-ranked light-heavyweight for six years. He won 11 of his next 12 bouts, losing only a controversial split decision to undefeated but unknown southpaw Eric Harding, despite knocking him down and out-landing him according to punchstats.

Griffin vs. Michalczewski Four consecutive knockout wins later, the now 38-2 Griffin squared off against 40-0 Lineal/WBO champion, Dariusz Michalczewski in Germany. The 29-year-old Griffin won the first three rounds on the cards but was cut by the 31-year-old Michalczewski's jab in the second round. 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.

Griffin vs. Tarver

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.

Later career 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 Glen Johnson by TKO 11; all three were IBF eliminators. He also lost on points to Beibut Shumenov

Griffin compiled a respectable resume over the course of his career: he has two wins over James Toney, a disqualification win over Roy Jones Jr., and wins over contenders Ka-Dy King, Ray Lathon, Randall Yonker, Derrick Harmon and George Khalid Jones.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes59WinDeAndrey AbronUD8Aug 19, 201158Draw49–8–1Ross Thompson10May 29, 201057Loss49–8Beibut ShumenovUD12Aug 2, 200856Win49–7Cory CummingsUD10Jun 20, 200855Loss48–7Glen JohnsonTKO11 (12), May 16, 200754Win48–6Norman JonesUD12Mar 31, 200653Loss47–6Julio César GonzálezTD6 (12), May 5, 200552Win47–5Sam ReeseUD10Feb 3, 200551Loss46–5Rico HoyeSD12Sep 16, 200450Win46–4Thomas ReidUD10Jun 17, 200449Win45–4Willard Lewis4 (10), May 22, 200448Loss44–4Antonio TarverUD12Apr 26, 200347Win44–3George Khalid JonesUD12Nov 3, 200246Win43–3Derrick HarmonUD12Jul 21, 200245Win42–3George KlinesmithTKO1 (10), Feb 17, 200244Win41–3Jesus Ruiz10 (10)May 12, 200143Win40–3Ed DaltonTKO6 (12), Mar 9, 200142Win39–3Jose Luis RiveraUD12Apr 22, 200041Loss38–3Dariusz MichalczewskiTKO4 (12), Aug 28, 199940Win38–2Tim CooperTKO3 (10), Jun 23, 199939Win37–2Danny ThomasTKO5 (10), May 25, 199938Win36–2Randall YonkerKO3 (10)Feb 26, 199937Win35–2Availeo SlateTKO2 (10), Jan 26, 199936Loss34–2Eric Harding12Nov 13, 199835Win34–1Eric DavisTKO6 (10), Oct 2, 199834Win33–1Randall YonkerTKO3 (10), Aug 22, 199833Win32–1Karl WillisTKO3 (10), Jun 3, 199832Win31–1Kenny LopezTKO9 (10)Mar 28, 199831Win30–1Thomas ReidUD10Feb 27, 199830Win29–1Jesus CastanedaTKO8 (10), Dec 26, 199729Win28–1Vinson DurhamUD10Nov 29, 199728Loss27–1Roy Jones Jr.KO1 (12), Aug 7, 199727Win27–0Roy Jones Jr.9 (12), Mar 21, 199726Win26–0James ToneyUD12Dec 6, 199625Win25–0Russell MitchellTKO1 (10), Oct 18, 199624Win24–0Melvin WynnTKO2 (10)Aug 28, 199623Win23–0Matthew CharlestonTKO11 (12), Jul 11, 199622Win22–0Charles ScottTKO4 (10)May 10, 199621Win21–0Tony GoldenKO2 (10), Mar 29, 199620Win20–0William ClaytonKO1 (10), Jan 26, 199619Win19–0Ray WebbTKO6 (10)Nov 29, 199518Win18–0John MitchellTKO2 (10)Oct 7, 199517Win17–0Hunter ClayKO6Sep 14, 199516Win16–0Tony BoothTKO2 (10)Jun 4, 199515Win15–0James Toney12Feb 18, 199514Win14–0Ray LathonUD12Sep 12, 199413Win13–0David VedderUD10May 23, 199412Win12–0Terry CollierTKO6Apr 26, 199411Win11–0Steve BrewerTKO2Jan 18, 199410Win10–0Terrence WrightTKO6 (8)Dec 6, 19939Win9–0Terry CollierPTS8Nov 19, 19938Win8–0Bobby Mack6Sep 24, 19937Win7–0Ka-Dy KingUD6Aug 27, 19936Win6–0Mike GarciaTKO3 (6)Aug 13, 19935Win5–0Ron StringerTKO3Jun 25, 19934Win4–0Donnie Penelton6Apr 26, 19933Win3–0Randy McGaugh2Apr 16, 19932Win2–0Calvin PuckettTKO2 (6)Mar 13, 19931Win1–0Jose Luis Ornelas2Feb 16, 1993

Hall of Fame With a record of 50-8 during his historic boxing career, Montell “Ice” Griffin was inducted into the Rochester Boxing Hall of Fame Class of ‘22 in October 2022, in Rochester, New York.

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