| Montell Griffin | |
| Nickname: | Ice |
| Realname: | Montell Julian Griffin |
| Weight: | Light heavyweight |
| Height: | 5 ft 7 in |
| Reach: | 70 in |
| Nationality: | American |
| Birth Date: | 6 June 1970 |
| Birth Place: | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Style: | Orthodox |
| Total: | 59 |
| Wins: | 50 |
| Ko: | 30 |
| Losses: | 8 |
| Draws: | 1 |
Montell Julian Griffin (born June 6, 1970) is an American former professional boxer. He held the WBC light heavyweight title in 1997 and challenged twice for a world title.
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.[1]
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Glen Johnson by TKO 11; all three were IBF eliminators. He also lost on points to Beibut Shumenov
Griffin compiled a very respectable resume over the course of his career: he has two wins over James Toney, a disqualification wins over Roy Jones Jr., and wins over contenders Ka-Dy King, Ray Lathon, Randall Yonker, Derrick Harmon and George Khalid Jones.
| Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 59 | Win | 50–8–1 |  DeAndrey Abron | UD | 8 | Aug 19, 2011 | | ||
| 58 | Draw | 49–8–1 | Ross Thompson | 10 | May 29, 2010 | | |||
| 57 | Loss | 49–8 |  Beibut Shumenov | UD | 12 | Aug 2, 2008 | | ||
| 56 | Win | 49–7 | Cory Cummings | UD | 10 | Jun 20, 2008 | | ||
| 55 | Loss | 48–7 |  Glen Johnson | TKO | 11 (12), | May 16, 2007 | | ||
| 54 | Win | 48–6 | Norman Jones | UD | 12 | Mar 31, 2006 | | ||
| 53 | Loss | 47–6 |  Julio César González | TD | 6 (12), | May 5, 2005 | | ||
| 52 | Win | 47–5 | Sam Reese | UD | 10 | Feb 3, 2005 | | ||
| 51 | Loss | 46–5 | Rico Hoye | SD | 12 | Sep 16, 2004 | | ||
| 50 | Win | 46–4 | Thomas Reid | UD | 10 | Jun 17, 2004 | | ||
| 49 | Win | 45–4 |  Willard Lewis | 4 (10), | May 22, 2004 | | |||
| 48 | Loss | 44–4 | Antonio Tarver | UD | 12 | Apr 26, 2003 | | ||
| 47 | Win | 44–3 | George Khalid Jones | UD | 12 | Nov 3, 2002 | | ||
| 46 | Win | 43–3 | Derrick Harmon | UD | 12 | Jul 21, 2002 | | ||
| 45 | Win | 42–3 | George Klinesmith | TKO | 1 (10), | Feb 17, 2002 | | ||
| 44 | Win | 41–3 | Jesus Ruiz | 10 (10) | May 12, 2001 | | |||
| 43 | Win | 40–3 | Ed Dalton | TKO | 6 (12), | Mar 9, 2001 | | ||
| 42 | Win | 39–3 | Jose Luis Rivera | UD | 12 | Apr 22, 2000 |  | ||
| 41 | Loss | 38–3 |  Dariusz Michalczewski | TKO | 4 (12), | Aug 28, 1999 | |||
| 40 | Win | 38–2 | Tim Cooper | TKO | 3 (10), | Jun 23, 1999 | | ||
| 39 | Win | 37–2 | Danny Thomas | TKO | 5 (10), | May 25, 1999 | | ||
| 38 | Win | 36–2 | Randall Yonker | KO | 3 (10) | Feb 26, 1999 | | ||
| 37 | Win | 35–2 | Availeo Slate | TKO | 2 (10), | Jan 26, 1999 | | ||
| 36 | Loss | 34–2 | Eric Harding | 12 | Nov 13, 1998 | | |||
| 35 | Win | 34–1 | Eric Davis | TKO | 6 (10), | Oct 2, 1998 | | ||
| 34 | Win | 33–1 | Randall Yonker | TKO | 3 (10), | Aug 22, 1998 | | ||
| 33 | Win | 32–1 | Karl Willis | TKO | 3 (10), | Jun 3, 1998 | | ||
| 32 | Win | 31–1 | Kenny Lopez | TKO | 9 (10) | Mar 28, 1998 | | ||
| 31 | Win | 30–1 | Thomas Reid | UD | 10 | Feb 27, 1998 | | ||
| 30 | Win | 29–1 | Jesus Castaneda | TKO | 8 (10), | Dec 26, 1997 | | ||
| 29 | Win | 28–1 | Vinson Durham | UD | 10 | Nov 29, 1997 | | ||
| 28 | Loss | 27–1 | Roy Jones Jr. | KO | 1 (12), | Aug 7, 1997 | | ||
| 27 | Win | 27–0 | Roy Jones Jr. | 9 (12), | Mar 21, 1997 | | |||
| 26 | Win | 26–0 | James Toney | UD | 12 | Dec 6, 1996 | | ||
| 25 | Win | 25–0 | Russell Mitchell | TKO | 1 (10), | Oct 18, 1996 | | ||
| 24 | Win | 24–0 | Melvin Wynn | TKO | 2 (10) | Aug 28, 1996 | | ||
| 23 | Win | 23–0 | Matthew Charleston | TKO | 11 (12), | Jul 11, 1996 | | ||
| 22 | Win | 22–0 | Charles Scott | TKO | 4 (10) | May 10, 1996 | | ||
| 21 | Win | 21–0 | Tony Golden | KO | 2 (10), | Mar 29, 1996 | | ||
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | William Clayton | KO | 1 (10), | Jan 26, 1996 | | ||
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Ray Webb | TKO | 6 (10) | Nov 29, 1995 | |||
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | John Mitchell | TKO | 2 (10) | Oct 7, 1995 | | ||
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Hunter Clay | KO | 6 | Sep 14, 1995 | |||
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Tony Booth | TKO | 2 (10) | Jun 4, 1995 | |||
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | James Toney | 12 | Feb 18, 1995 | | |||
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Ray Lathon | UD | 12 | Sep 12, 1994 | | ||
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | David Vedder | UD | 10 | May 23, 1994 | | ||
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Terry Collier | TKO | 6 | Apr 26, 1994 | | ||
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Steve Brewer | TKO | 2 | Jan 18, 1994 | | ||
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Terrence Wright | TKO | 6 (8) | Dec 6, 1993 | | ||
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Terry Collier | PTS | 8 | Nov 19, 1993 | | ||
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Bobby Mack | 6 | Sep 24, 1993 | ||||
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Ka-Dy King | UD | 6 | Aug 27, 1993 | | ||
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Mike Garcia | TKO | 3 (6) | Aug 13, 1993 | | ||
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Ron Stringer | TKO | 3 | Jun 25, 1993 | | ||
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Donnie Penelton | 6 | Apr 26, 1993 | | |||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Randy McGaugh | 2 | Apr 16, 1993 | | |||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Calvin Puckett | TKO | 2 (6) | Mar 13, 1993 | | ||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Jose Luis Ornelas | 2 | Feb 16, 1993 | |
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.[2]