Chris Christensen, Danish middleweight, is sprawled on the canvas, driven there by Emile Griffith's right and left to the head in the third round of their scheduled 15-round fight in Forum Stadium, Copenhagan, today. Griffith is waved away by referee Robert Seidel, of Switzerland, as he looks down on his fallen foe. Christensen was down for the count of eight in this round.
Griffith, whose world welterweight title was not at stake, won by a technical knockout in the ninth round of this fight.
(AP sports wire)
Emile Griffith celebrated his 25th birthday by successfully defending his World Junior middleweight title in Copenhagen. He stopped the 36-year old Dane, Christian Christensen in the 9th, after "Gentleman Chris" had been down twice in that round. The towel came flying in. Christensen had also been down in the 3rd.
Griffith moved in and out on the Dane, he even could take some extra seconds off to admire the effect of his combinations. The first two knockdowns were from right crosses, the final attack was a two fisted volley.
Prior to the fight, in January 1963, Boxing News reported that a member of the Danish parlament intended to stop the event, fearing that Christensen would get seriously hurt.
(boxrec)
(Griffith's World Light Middleweight Title was Recognized by the Austrian Boxing Board of Control, but by no other agencies)
