Abreu - Cuban Boxers

The Story of Benny Kid Paret: Cuban Boxers, the Cuban Revolution, and the U.S.
Media,
1959-1962
Author(s): Christina D. Abreu
Source: Journal of Sport History, Vol. 38, No. 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 95-113
Published by: University of Illinois Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jsporthistory.38.1.95
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ABREU: THE STORY OF BENNY KID PARET
The Story of Benny Kid

Paret: Cuban Boxers, the
Cuban Revolution, and the
U.S. Media, 1959-1962
CHRISTINA D. ABREU
American Culture
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
This article examines the personal life history and professional boxing ca-
reer of Afro-Cuban boxer Benny Kid Paret between 1959 and 1962.
Paret died nine days after suffering a brutal beating in the ring at the
hands of Emile Griffith, and this article focuses on the public discourse
surrounding his death in the context of strained U.S.-Cuba relations, in-
creased Cuban migration to the United States after 1959, and race and
ethnic identity formation. Using major U.S. newspapers, magazines, and
boxing periodicals as well as African-American and Spanish-language news-
papers, this article contributes to a growing body of literature on Latino/as,
race, and sport.

Correspondence to cabreu@umich.edu.
Spring 2011 95
JOURNAL OF SPORT HISTORY
Although we are not boxing experts nor do we like the brutal sport, we ask
ourselves, why did Manuel Alfaro put Paret before Fullmer and subject him to
another tough match against Griffith just a few months afterwards? Also, why
didnt Rudy Goldstein stop the fight sooner? Did Griffith fight with rage be-
cause of the bad blood between him and Paret? God save Benny Paret!
LUISA A. QUINTERO, COLUMNIST, LA PRENSA, 1962
B ENNY KID PARET BURST ONTO THE PROFESSIONAL boxing scene in the United
States on December 18, 1959. The unranked underdog defeated fellow welterweight
Charley Scott of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by a unanimous decision in a ten-round bout
in New York Citys Madison Square Garden.1 The nationally-televised upset surprised
much of the boxing world and helped to establish Parets legitimacy as a welterweight
contender, fueling laudatory comparisons between Paret and the legendary Kid Gaviln.
Outside of the boxing world someone else believed that this fight could mean much more
than a slash in the victory column for the young boxer. Just the day before, recently
successful revolutionary leader Fidel Castro had sent Paret a telegram that reportedly de-
clared: I won my revolution. Now its up to you to win your battle. One might suspect
that these were not simple words of encouragement in line with the usual Go getem,
tiger! or You can do it, Kid! With someone at ringside joking that the telegram actu-
ally ordered that Paret win or else, one might wonder what Castro hoped to gain, politi-
cally and symbolically, from a Cubans public defeat of a U.S. citizen in the worlds most
famous arena.2 This little known incident suggests that Parets personal life and profes-
sional boxing career cannot be easily untangled from the context of the tense political
relations developing between Cuba, his native country, and the United States, the land
where he hoped to attain prosperity.
Parets professional boxing career has a definite ending, an uncontested place in the
historical record: on April 4, 1962, nine days after his defense of his welterweight champi-
onship title, the young Afro-Cuban boxer died. The angry beating he received at the
hands of Emile Griffith, the challenger whom he had fought twice before, left him in a
coma from which he never recovered. But the broader implications of his life history
remain largely untold. As an Afro-Cuban of rural origins living in the modern swirl of
New York City and Miami, Parets personal life and boxing career yield a complicated
story of migration and social mobility. Paret had to contend with the multiple and often
competing expectations of his family, competitors, handlers, boxing aficionados, and sports-
writers. He also had to face the expectations of Cuban and non-Cuban boxing fans who
filled arenas or crowded around their living room television sets on Friday nights to catch
a glimpse of the next Kid Gaviln. The story of Benny Kid Paret does not fall neatly
within a paradigm of immigrant uplift through hard work and cultural adaptation, nor
does his story correspond simply to narratives that trace the rise and fall of celebrity fame
and fortune. Rather, the story of Benny Kid Paret offers a look into the complex rela-
tionship between sports, international politics, and U.S. media representations. Strained
relations between the U.S. and Cuban governments in the wake of the Cuban Revolution
of 1959 as well as public discourse on the sport of boxing shaped how the English- and
Spanish-language press in the U.S. approached its coverage of Parets tragic death. Not
96 Volume 38, Number 1

only did Parets death serve as a strong indictment against the sport of boxing, but it also
revealed tensions within the Cuban exile community.
I Am the Best Cuban Fighter:
Parets Early Life and Historical Significance
Born in Santa Clara, Cuba, on March 14, 1937, son of Alberto and Maxima Crespo,
Bernardo Paret y Valdes spent most of his early life as a manual laborer. He took to the
fields at a young age, helping to support his family by chopping sugar cane for minimal
wages under the unforgiving rays of the hot tropical sun. Paret never completed any
formal schooling on the island, and he could neither read nor write Spanish or English.
His youthful diversions ranged from the occasional vanilla ice cream soda to swimming
and catching fish with his bare hands at a nearby river. Manuel Alfaro, a Cuban restaura-
teur living in New York, discovered Paret on a scouting trip to Havana in 1958. Paret
recalled that he learned to fight as a young kid in Cuba, noting that rowdiness and rough-
ness were common street behaviors among friends and foes alike: We fight all the time,
with fists, with feet, with rocks. When pushed by reporters to describe how he had de-
cided to embark on a boxing career, Alfaro, his manager, filled in the gaps for Paret. Alfaro
said that a former fighter had spotted Paret in a street fight when he was thirteen years old.
After just four months of training, he was boxing in the amateur leagues, winning a re-
markable twenty-seven out of twenty-eight contests in a single year. On August 11, 1955,
Paret entered the professional ranks of boxing.3
Paret was one among several notable Cuban boxers attracting the attention of profes-
sional boxing fans in the United States during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Luis Manuel
Rodriguez and Florentino Fernandez held top-ten rankings in the welterweight division,
Rolando Chico Morales and Douglas Vaillant were distinguished lightweight boxers,
and featherweight Ultiminio Sugar Ramos and flyweight Hiram Bacallao also held
rankings in their divisions. Paret never fought Fernandez, but Rodriguez, a man he once
called his chief nemesis, was often considered the better of the three welterweight box-
ers, having whipped Paret twice in 1958. After stripping Los Angeles, California-native
Don Jordan of his world welterweight championship title on May 27, 1960, in a title
matchup that some suggested should have gone to Rodriguez, Paret seemed to have recog-
nized his Cuban competition and revealed a strong desire to distinguish himself from his
fellow countrymen. He noted that after he visited his wife Lucy in the Bronx and his
mother Maxima in Cuba, his goal was to defend my championship against everyone and
prove that I am the best Cuban fighter.4
Sportswriters also noticed the influx of Cuban boxers in the United States. Reporters
indicated a general decline in the quantity and quality of homebred Yanks and found
that second only to the larger and more populous boxing-mad Mexico, Cuba boasts the
finest collection of young ring aspirants in the world today. At just the right moment, it
seemed as though Cuba could supply the products needed for the consumption of both
the boxing industry and the American viewing public. One reporter hinted at a function-
alist relationship between Cuban boxers and professional boxing in the U.S. when he
argued that Paret has an opportunity to be of service to boxing, and by being a fighting
Spring 2011 97
champion restore interest in the welterweight division. Soon after the triumph of the
Cuban Revolution in January of 1959, Castro began clamping down on the gambling and
corruption associated with professional sports like boxing, baseball, wrestling, and jai alai,
all of which he officially outlawed in January of 1962. One reporter forecast the impact of
Castros ban on professional boxing, noting that just how serious a blow the Castro action
against boxing really is may be appreciated by the fact that among the top tenners of
current boxing we find no fewer than seven Cubans. He went on to assert that Ameri-
can boxing can assimilate all of these men. Their skills and their standings entitle them to
make a living in this country.5
Certainly not the lone Cuban boxer hoping to start anew in the United States, Parets
life history deserves special attention apart from this cohort of boxers from Cuba and
other parts of Latin America and the Caribbean for several reasons. First, following in the
traditions of the legendary Cuban boxers Kid Chocolate and Kid Gaviln, Paret was only
the third Cuban in professional boxing history to win a world championship title. Paret
followed a long line of Cuban boxers who adopted the moniker Kid and attained glory
from boxing inside and outside of Cuba. Second, his death was the first death resulting
from a championship title fight since June 24, 1947, when Jimmy Doyle died from inju-
ries he sustained in the ring at the hands of Sugar Ray Robinson.6 Third, Parets tragic
death spawned national and international controversy. It sparked local, state, and federal
investigations into the championship title bout and led many sportswriters, boxing fans,
and government officials to question the integrity of the sport itself and push for reform.
The backlash of criticism from the Paret-Griffith match forced corporate sponsors and
television networks to disassociate themselves from the sport and, though perhaps only
briefly, threatened to end professional boxing in the United States.
Historical scholarship on professional boxing in the United States has focused prima-
rily on heavyweight fighters popular during the first half of the twentieth century. Heavy-
weight matchups tended to draw the most fans and generate the highest profits. A great
deal of the literature on professional boxing, therefore, has examined the personal lives and
professional careers of big-name boxers like Jack Johnson and Joe Louis. Heavyweight
fighters Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson have drawn the interest of historians of the
second half of the twentieth century, though many of these studies reflect on the perceived
decline in talent and popularity of the sport since the 1950s and 1960s.7 Much of this
history shares a common narrative: boxing allowed poor and working-class men (first
ethnic Italian, Irish, and Jewish fighters then African-American fighters) to improve their
economic and social standing in American society. Shortly after their boxing careers ended,
so the familiar story goes, the majority squandered whatever earnings they had managed
to save and faded into obscurity with few skills beyond a left hook and right jab. Never-
theless, as historian Jeffrey T. Sammons has argued, when an underprivileged boxer suc-
ceeds against overwhelming odds and insurmountable obstacles, at enormous personal
costs, the hopes of all Americans buoyed. For example, both white and black Americans
viewed Joe Louis victory against German Max Schmeling on June 22, 1938, as heroic and
symbolic of the countrys strength and persistence following the Great Depression and the
potential for military involvement in World War II.8

Much of the history of sport in Cuba traces the history of U.S. involvement on the
island since the late nineteenth century, suggesting that Cuba and the United States have
historically shared ties of singular intimacy. For example, historians have noted the role
of Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders in helping popularize modern sports like
baseball and boxing on the island during the Spanish American War.9 Historian Louis A.
Prez, Jr. contends, however, that it was the great white hope contest between Jack
Johnson and Jess Willard at Oriental Park in April 1915 that won boxing a mass audi-
ence. Estimates hold that nearly 25,000 Cubans and 5,000 North American tourists
attended the match in Oriental Park, and by 1920 Cuba had formed its own professional
boxing association and built two new boxing arenas in Havana. Whether through en-
counters of military (occupations of 1898-1902 and 1906-1909) or cultural imperialism
(tourism), sport became part of a general and gradual process through which Cuban
society adopted many of the cultural preferences of the United States.10 For example,
Prez has argued that baseball in nineteenth-century Cuba offers a measure of colonial
society in transitionit was an expression of change and an agent of change. In their
struggle for independence, nineteenth-century Cubans of all ages, classes, and races em-
braced baseball, which they associated with the United States and modernity, and rejected
bullfighting, which they associated with Spain and barbarism.11
Historians of sport in post-revolutionary Cuba have not been immune to the polemi-
cal debates dominating the field of Cuban studies. One study that examines Cubas sports
system since 1959 credits Castro for providing all Cubans with access to sports activities
and contends that while there are problems, the good features of Cubas sports system
would be unfortunate losses if the socialist system in Cuba collapses. A nervous anticipa-
tion of Castros death and the end of Communism on the island riddles much of this
history, yielding studies that either praise Castros reforms and the success of amateur
Cuban boxing and baseball in international competitions like the Olympics or criticize his
governments tight control of, and limited freedoms granted to, its athletes. Rather than
exposing the changes and continuities in sports in Cuba both before and after 1959 through
the methods of social and cultural history, much of this literature simply forecasts the
future of amateur and professional boxing after Castro from the perspective of U.S.-Cuba
political relations.12
With the exception of a few inquiries into the career of Oscar de la Hoya, historians
have largely overlooked the many boxers from Latin America and the Caribbean who
fought in boxing rings across the United States during the second half of the twentieth
century. One of the main objectives of this study is to offer a look into the role and media
representation of Latino/a athletes in the United States, emphasizing along the way the
formation of multidirectional cultural networks shaped by transatlantic migration as well
as the rise of the mass culture industries. Afro-Caribbean migrants, namely from Cuba,
Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, crowded into urban neighborhoods across the
United States at an increasing rate throughout the 1950s and 1960s, marking the begin-
ning of what has been called the Latinization of New York City. Although this period
also marked a certain disinterest in boxing, the booming popularity of television as the
dominant medium of entertainment increased the (in)visibility of an Afro-Caribbean mi-
grant like Paret. Historian Adrian Burgos, Jr. has focused on Latino baseball players in the
Spring 2011 99
United States throughout the twentieth century and provides an important model for
understanding how these transatlantic migrants, a category in which we might safely place
Paret, experienced race in the United States. Burgos argues that these baseball players did
not enter the U.S. playing field as simply black or white. Rather, most occupied a position
between the poles of white (inclusion) and black (exclusion). Latino baseball players
were racialized as individuals from the Spanish-speaking Americas, as nonwhite Others, or
as of Spanish ancestry. He argues that Latino baseball players of the integration and
post-integration eras continued to experience the double bind of cultural difference and
racial standing, and much of this is also true of Parets experiences in the U.S.13
The Matchups against Emile Griffith:
Bouts for Titles, Money, and Manhood
No event secured Parets command of the boxing worlds attention more than a series
of three matchups against welterweight contender Emile Griffith. Originally from the
U.S. Virgin Islands, Griffith now lived in New York City where he worked as a hat de-
signer and sang in a choir in his neighborhood church. Paret and Griffith first squared off
on April 1, 1961, at the Miami Beach Convention Hall in front of a disappointingly
small crowd of 4,618 and live gate of $20,314. Paret dominated Griffith in the earlier
rounds of the championship bout but fell in the thirteenth round, marking the first knockout
of his forty-six fight career and ending his ten-month reign as welterweight champ. Box-
ing reporters responded with mixed reviews: some described the fight as nothing more
than a leaning contest that was far from a thrilling encounter, though others con-
tended that the crowd more than got its money worth. Griffiths mother almost fainted
as she rushed into the ring to celebrate her sons victory. The new champ revealed that it
was a light smack across the cheek from his manager Gil Clancy that sparked his motiva-
tion in the last round. He said, I got angry when [Clancy] smacked me (in the thir-
teenth) and I just went after [Paret]. Parets corner, for its part, appeared bitterly disap-
pointed and offered up several excuses to explain the loss. With Alfaro acting as interpreter,
Paret blamed the loss on his limited English language skills: He didnt understand the
count. This was the first time hed ever been knocked down. He doesnt know how to
count to 10 in English. Alfaro then quickly added that well teach him to count to 10
before the return fight. One boxing reporter seemed skeptical, quipping that [h]e evi-
dently couldnt count the number of swings of Peerless [the referees] arms either. The
former champs corner also attributed the upset to the fact that, shortly before the fight,
Paret was forced to shed about eight pounds to make weight. The loss cost Paret the
championship title as well as a tour of Europe where he had planned to meet Brian Curvis
of Wales and Dulio Loi of Italy, two non-title fights that would have brought him a
combined purse of nearly $160,000.14
Five months later, on September 30, 1961, Paret met Griffith for a chance to regain
the welterweight championship crown. Paret came into the nationally-televised match in
Madison Square Garden a four-to-one underdog, and most boxing experts and fans at
ringside seemed stunned when the judges delivered a split decision in his favor. Paret had
regained the title, but many questioned the decision, complaining that the contest was

marred by both holding and head charges and that Parets fighting style misled judges.
Informal polls revealed that eighteen out of twenty-two reporters at ringside had selected
Griffith as the winner. The crowd of about six thousand fans reacted to the controversial
decision with a mixture of cheers and raucous boos. Nat Fleischer, long-time editor of
Ring Magazine, described the prevailing attitude among those in attendance: The major-
ity of those present failed to see eye-to-eye with the verdict and the usual howls of disap-
proval and jeers followed in the wake of the announcement. Fleischer urged a third
match to decide supremacy between the fighters. Immediately following the disputed
decision, Alfaro refused to consider a rematch with Griffith: Were going to Europe.
They didnt give us a chance to make money when we had it. Now were going to make it.
Reports estimated that each fighter earned close to $25,000 for the rematch, roughly 30
percent of the $60,000 television fee and 30 percent of the $20,000 net live gate. Not
surprisingly, the defeat outraged Griffiths corner, and Clancy went so far as to suggest
collusion. Griffith contributed a piece to Ring Magazine where he expressed disbelief over
the decision: If I did not whip Paret then the U.S.A. lost the second World War. He
confidently pressed for a rematch: Given another shot at the guy I will knock him out.
This is not boasting, just a conviction based on what I have as against what he has.15
Boxing promoters must have named the right price because Alfaros Nowhere, no
how, no place attitude about a return bout with Griffith finally gave way a few months
later. One commentator, Cuban reporter Jess Losada, accused promoters for Madison
Square Garden and the New York State Commission of pressuring Alfaro into arranging a
third match. Likely a result of multiple motivations, both fighters (and their handlers)
agreed to settle their score on March 24, 1962, in a nationally-televised welterweight
championship bout in Madison Square Garden. Promoters billed the fight a grudge match
stemming from Parets disputed gift decision over Griffith, and both fighters, who occa-
sionally passed each other on the street in the Bronx neighborhood where they both lived,
had few kind words for one another. A few days before the fight, Paret appeared confident
about his chances for victory: I dont expect an easy fight, but there is no doubt in my
mind that Ill still be champion when this bout is over. Ive trained hard for this bout and
I dont intend losing.16
Hours later, close to eight thousand spectators, nearly twice as many fans as the first
Paret-Griffith matchup, crowded into the arena for the slugfest. Griffith entered the ring
as the heavy favorite, and he seemed to control much of the fight until Paret forced him
down for an eight-count in the sixth round. Paret had earned himself a reputation for
being able to take a punch with some commentators referring to him as the Cuban Kid
with the Iron Chin. Though Paret seemed to be gaining some momentum in the elev-
enth round, Griffith returned in the twelfth virtually berserk, a wild man on the loose.
Following a two-handed flurry that started with ten consecutive right uppercuts to the
chin, Paret fell to the floor two minutes and nine seconds into the twelfth round just as
referee Ruby Goldstein stepped in to stop the wild brawl. Goldstein struggled to re-
strain Griffith who appeared unable to contain his excitement over his victory. Moments
later, doctors and Parets handlers at ringside rushed to the collapsed boxer to find him
unconscious and badly beaten. Paret was quickly transported by ambulance to Roosevelt
Hospital where he underwent emergency three-hour brain surgery to remove a blood
clot.17
Spring 2011 101

Media reports immediately sought someone or something to blame for the savage
two-fisted attack witnessed by an estimated fourteen million television viewers drawn
not only because it was a title fight but also because there were reports it had developed
into a grudge fight between the two men. Subsequent news reports attacked Alfaro and
the other men in his corner, arguing that greed had compromised their management of
Parets career. In the six months leading up to the third contest with Griffith, Paret had
gone up in weight, from 146 to 156 pounds, to fight middleweight champion Gene
Fullmer in Las Vegas in front of a crowd of just over six thousand. Few boxing experts
thought Paret stood a chance of beating Fullmer, and most saw the matchup as simply a
money-making scheme that earned Paret $40,000. One report described that matchup as
wasteful and unwarranted, uncalled for and surely unacclaimed, contending that [w]hat
Paret needed was a long, long rest. The fans knew it, Fullmer knew itwhy then didnt
Parets handlers, the promoters and the Commission know it?18
Alfaro responded to these criticisms by shifting blame away from himself and towards
Goldstein. He charged, I lost a champion because of negligence on the part of a referee.
Paret will never be able to fight again if he lives. Alfaro insisted that he had signaled
Goldstein to stop the fight long before Parets limp body finally hit the canvas, arguing
that I was screaming from the corner for him to stop itbut he let it go on. Observers
at ringside, however, countered that neither Alfaro nor any other of Parets handlers showed
any signs of wanting the fight stopped. The boxing world generally regarded Goldstein as
its top referee, and most reports soon cleared him of any wrongdoing citing his reputation
for stopping fights too soon as evidence of his good judgment. Goldstein, for his part,
justified his response to Griffiths barrage of punches by commenting on Parets boxing
style: I knew Paret as a tough fellow. Sometimes, in the first round, he doesnt do too
well. Then he comes out of it and starts fighting. Goldstein did not shy away from
participation in the blame game circulating in the media in the days and weeks following
the bout, placing fault on the sport of boxing itself: I certainly am rooting for the boy to
pull through. But I still say my judgment was good. Boxing is that kind of gamea
though [sic] game in which these tragedies sometimes occur.19
As Paret lay unconscious in his hospital room with little chance of recovery, specula-
tion about his character and behavior moments leading up to the fight circulated in the
media. Some sportswriters and editorialists suggested that Paret only had himself to blame
for the brutal beating he had just absorbed. Tensions between the two fighters had boiled
over at the weigh-in ceremony before the fight when Paret made statements detrimental
to Griffiths manhood. Another report described Parets behavior as thoughtlessly cruel,
noting that he needled Griffith, in Spanish, calling him names. Though reports of the
exact insult were generally vague in English-language periodicals, coverage in La Prensa,
New York Citys largest and longest-running Spanish-language newspaper, offered more
precise details of the incident. One report revealed that Paret touched Griffiths chest and
told him that he wasnt a man, that he was homosexual. The report explained that Paret
had always doubted Griffiths manhood and that Griffiths manner of dressing, his man-
ner of talking, and even his manner of expressing himself left a bad impression in the
boxing world and this established doubt in all sectors. Many commentators charged that
demeaning remarks about Griffiths manliness pushed him to step into the ring fighting

mad. After admitting that her husband had called Griffith a little lady, Parets wife
insisted that Griffith aimed to kill when he stepped into the ring that evening. Moments
after the fight, Griffith responded to questions from reporters about his behavior in the
ring: I didnt know the fight was over. Thats why I kept hitting him. I didnt mean him
any harm. Griffith then revealed that Parets insulting remarks at the weigh-in ceremony
had triggered his emotions: You know, he called me bad names during the weigh in. I
told Gil that if he did the same thing this time, Id hit him. He did it again and I was
burning mad. Less than two months later, however, Griffith told investigators that he
had not gone into the fight with Paret angry: You cannot be angry at a guy and go in the
ring and fight with a cool head.20
Though few could dispute that Parets bullying tactics before the fight had prompted
Griffiths rage, some sportswriters developed an alternative narrative: Paret lay in a coma
not because of the steady stream of jabs and uppercuts that pounded his brain loose but
because of an unchecked lust for money, fancy cars, and an easy life. To some critics,
Parets own greed as well as that of his handlers bore just as much, if not more, responsibil-
ity for his all but certain death. Throughout his career, reports had jabbed Paret for the
amount of gold jewelry he wore outside of the ring: When Benny Kid Paret peels for
action in the gym he first has to remove more baubles than a stripteaser. The welterweight
champion is freighted down with gold. He wouldnt have a chance on a sinking ship. He
would go to the bottom like an anchor. Around his neck he wears two solid gold religious
medals attached to heavy gold chains. Both wrists are laden with gold charm bracelets.
His belt buckle is gold. Altogether he must be worth a couple thousand dollars on the
hoof. Paret revealed in an interview that his religious gold jewelry was his most prized
possession claiming, It brings me good luckso I am told. In fact, in October of 1960,
Parets gold adornment seemed to have attracted the attention of four men who attacked
and robbed his wife and himself as they entered a taxicab in the Bronx. The assailants hit
Paret with a car radio antenna, slashed him across the stomach, and stole a wrist watch,
bracelet, tie pin, and diamond ring from the couple.21
Reports cited Parets lavish lifestyle alongside his familial responsibilities as explana-
tion for his refusal to retire from boxing. He had purchased a new house at 1000 NW 47th
Street in Miami for $16,000 in cash, and two cars, a 1962 Thunderbird and a 1962
Cadillac El Dorado; he also had a family in Cuba to whom he sent money, a pregnant
wife, and a two-year-old son. A family friend contended that his two cars were his only
real extravagance and that Benny wanted his family to have a home, while he was still
making it. One report described Paret as quietly generous, noting that he made fre-
quent large donations to his church and to individuals he saw in need. To those in the
Spanish-speaking world in this country, Paret was a great hero through whom many had
enjoyed a vicarious success-dream.22
Nonetheless, those critics who attributed his tragic death to greed largely discredited
the notion that as an Afro-Cuban migrant from poor, working-class origins Paret had few
options beyond boxing to earn a living in the United States. Lucy Paret defended her
husbands choice to pursue a boxing career: If my husband had not been hurt, he would
have continued to fight. He knows no other business. And thats true of many fighters.
They know no other thing and theyve got kids to support. Several critics, however,
Spring 2011 103

could conjure up little sympathy for Parets situation with one writer countering that he
could think of many more meaningful ways of striving for excellence in America. The
sharpest criticisms came from syndicated columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, who argued that
nobody put a gun to Benny Parets head and made him go into the prize ring with Emile
Griffith. The Government didnt draft him and threaten him with jail if he didnt risk his
life, as the Government does with so many young men who are called to serve their coun-
try when they would prefer to pursue quieter careers as bank clerks or farmers. Kilgallen
seemed to condemn Paret as both greedy and un-American: Benny Paret got $50,000 for
his evening in Madison Square Garden. Thats quite a bit more than the United States
pays a soldier for going to Viet Nam and getting a snipers bullet through his brain.
Directly responding to Lucys statements in the press, Kilgallen replied: Bunk. . . . Benny
could have been an elevator operator or a bus boy or a garage mechanic or any number of
things, but then he wouldnt have had a bunch of sycophants treating him like a wonderful
baby. . . . Nobody cheers a bus boy.23 One wonders if by any number of things Kilgallen
had really meant any number of things suitable to Parets race, ethnicity, and class?
If participants in the world of boxing were to blame for Parets death then the sport
itself could not escape its own fair dose of culpability. Some sportswriters linked the sport
to deceptive narratives of social mobility:
If the case of Benny (Kid) Paret were an isolated one, boxing should be given
another chance. But it is almost a classic case history: a young man, strong of
back, powerful of muscle, is lustily chopping sugar in the canebreaks of Cuba.
The roving eye of the practiced scout sizes him up expertly. He is perfect for the
savage trade. The approach is made. A few local fights and he is whisked to
New Yorkthe big time, boy. Girls, dancing, fast cars, fancy hotels, silk sheets,
cha-cha records. The good life.24
Boxing could not be disassociated from corruption and greed, factors that often left
the boxer vulnerable to those around him: There are few things that can be done to
safeguard the fighter in the ring. But the fighter must also be safeguarded outside the ring.
For all his brave efforts, the fighters reward . . . after everyone has been paid off . . . are
small. Another report suggested that the pursuit of profits monopolized the boxing
agenda: The tragedy of Benny Paret is that here was a man earning nearly a quarter
million dollars in a country that practices free education, dying without the ability to read
or write. Thats how much his manager cared. Thats how concerned promoters are.
Thats how interested state boxing commissions are. Hoping to defend the sport from
criticism and threats to ban it, Nat Fleischer contended that professional boxers know that
they risk their lives the instant they step into the ring: They accept it as did Paret because
boxing gives them an opportunity, if proficient, to gain gold and glory. The stakes are
high and they take their chances. People who work at hazardous jobs do so for the money
they can make. Here, then, was an economic rationalization for Parets death. Another
writer arrived at a similar conclusion, though he went a step farther to link individual
choice to Americanness: Prize fighting is not a gentle sport. . . . But it is not illegal, and it
does have a certain art, and it is not detested by all Americans exercising their freedom of
choice. Some of us happen to like it. Muhammad Ali defended the sport at a boxing
gym in Miami Beach: The idea is to fight. So a guy got killed. Thats unfortunate. It
happens once every ten years in boxing. What about those three airplanes that crashed last

week? They killed a hundred people every time. I cry like the devil getting on that air-
plane. Im not afraid of the ring.25
Parets tragic beating had not only created a ready market for attacks on boxing but
also for serious criticisms of television and boxing fans alike. One report described the
telecast as having some of the trappings of a public execution, screened as it was for
national television. Many sportswriters found that television coverage of the fight had
exaggerated the savagery of the event: It was the inexorable eye of the camera, particularly
the re-run in slow motion, that brought into living rooms the apparently mercilessness of
Griffiths final barrage with Paret imprisoned on the ropes. Suddenly it became a horror
movie. Reports estimated that Griffith had landed between twenty and twenty-six punches
in just nine seconds. The constant replay of the knockout in slow motion disturbed many
viewers, and sportswriters lashed out at the television producers and commentators who
told viewers that Paret would be all right [sic] and even allowed Griffith to explain how
he had beaten Paret into senselessness. Producers seemed most interested in filling up the
time they had left in their telecast: You have time left on a telecast, use it. How often,
anyway, can you show a pug who is practically beaten to death? Even Nat Fleischer
admitted that the closeup of Paret being hammered into a coma was bad enough without
the re-running by the TV monitors of the savagery in slow motion. That was absolutely
unnecessary.26 These sportswriters seemed to separate the actual live event from its medi-
ated, televised form: the live event, the deadly beating of one man by another, was not
inherently wrong or problematic; the public broadcastthe television media that trans-
mitted those images into the homehad just made the event all too real.
Sportswriters found that boxing fansthose seated at ringside and those who watched
from their homesplayed a role in shaping the brutality of the sports. Some commenta-
tors understood that the public expected to be entertained and that boxers, boxing offi-
cials, and the television industry, looking to secure the highest profits, simply responded to
what the market demanded. Though fans seems genuinely horrified by what they had
seen in the ring, the more gore and legalized mayhem, the greater their satisfaction. One
sportswriter explained that the television industry has realized what boxing managers and
promoters discovered decades ago, that the public appetite for entertainment despite the
refinements of Twentieth Century civilization remains as primitive in its preferences for
blood-and-thunder divertissement as it did ages ago. This sportswriter went as far as to
suggest that the public has determined the style, the so-called brutality of the sport, fre-
quently complaining when a boxing bout features finesse rather than ferocity.27
The Paret-Griffith fight damaged professional boxings reputation on both economic
and moral grounds. Television networks and advertisers found little incentive to continue
to promote the sport, and ABC and the Gillette Safety Razor Company vowed to suspend
their contracts with professional boxing in 1964: To associate a consumer product with a
sport criticized for brutality has been widely debated on Madison Avenue. As early as
March 28, 1962, an ABC-affiliate in Mississippi announced that it would no longer broad-
cast professional boxing matches: We are not going to carry death into the living room.
My station cannot afford to take the risk of this thing happening again. Sportswriters
asserted that national boxing cannot long hope to offer public executions as entertain-
ment. Boxing is in the docks today and the charge is murder. Another writer explained
Spring 2011 105

that boxing is a masculine business and was never intended to be seen in the sitting room
of your home. The televised broadcast had crossed the gendered boundaries between the
public and the private, and some sportswriters deemed the home too fragile (i.e., femi-
nine) for professional boxing.28
Then Theres That Awful Castro: Family, Politics, and Cubanness
Though much of the medias coverage concentrated on rationalizing the tragedy of
the Paret-Griffith bout, sportswriters directed considerable attention to Parets status as a
Cuban national. What might have been contained as a boxers private drama instead
played itself out in the very public context of the increasingly complex and hostile rela-
tionship between the United States and Cuban governments. Signs of this political drama
first surfaced during Parets February 1961 nontitle fight with Gaspar Ortega of Mexico.
The three thousand fans who gathered at Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles for the
fight clearly favored Ortega. The crowd cheered and chanted Indio! Indio! at Ortegas
every move and booed and threw beer at Paret. The bout ended in a draw, and Paret
complained that he was confused by the crowd. Jim Murray, sports columnist for the
Los Angeles Times, brought his wife and two other young ladies with him to cover the
Paret-Ortega fight: They came prepared to root for Gaspar Ortega. Not that they have
anything against the welterweight champion, Benny Paret. Its just that women think first
of the homeand Gaspars home town, Tijuana, is closer that Parets in Cuba. Then,
theres that awful Castro.29 This commentary presents obvious assumptions about the
interplay between gender and foreign affairs. On the one hand, Murray stereotypically
confines women to prescribed gender norms as protectors of the domestic sphere. On the
other hand, he also suggests that those in attendance (presumably a mixed audience of
Anglos and Mexican Americans) had made a mental leap: Paret personified a foreign
threat (i.e., Castros Cuba). Precisely because of this historical moment, the crowd opted
not to cheer for a Cuban when given a suitable and rational alternative.
Throughout his professional boxing career mainstream sportswriters and columnists
consistently referred to Paret in nationalist terms, describing him simply as the Cuban
while others opted for a more creative approach using phrases like the Cuban fireball,
the little Cuban with all the nicknames, the boy from the Pearl of the Antilles, and the
Cuban buzzsaw. Some writers phonetically mocked a Spanish accent and referred to
Paret as the Cuban Keed. Several columnists described Paret as a fun-loving, bongo-
playing Cuban who enjoyed listening and dancing to cha-cha-ch records. Photographs
accompanying these stories showed the boxer smiling from cheek to cheek and holding a
set of bongo drums in the ring. Noting that Paret had bought a house in Miami, one
writer suggested dual loyalties describing him as a Miami boxer of both Cuba and Mi-
ami. The mainstream press remained, for the most part, conspicuously silent on the
matter of Parets race. The Pittsburgh Courier, however, did identify Paret as a black fighter
contending that he had become the most recent victim of the same mysterious hex that
seems to plague Negro athletes in their prime. According to a brief story printed in the
New York Times, Vatican Citys newspaper, Osservatore Romana, condemned boxing and
described Paret as a poor Negro fighter.30

Never did sportswriters describe Paret as a Cuban exile or refugee nor does it appear
that he claimed for himself such an identity.31 This disassociation seems a bit peculiar
since the short period that marked his professional boxing career in the United States
witnessed a dramatic increase in the presence of Cubans in the country. Between January
of 1959 and October of 1962, an estimated 250,000 Cubans left the island for the United
States. The majority of these first wave migrs represented the upper and middle classes
of Cuban society, including government officials and military personnel loyal to Batista
and those of the professional classes (doctors, lawyers, engineers, and teachers, for ex-
ample). These mostly white migrs believed that their exile would be temporary and
felt confident that U.S.-supported counter-revolutionary efforts would help oust Castro
from power. Though newspapers in Miami expressed frustration and resentment towards
the steady influx of Cuban exiles (not to mention complaints about job competition and
the government aid funneled towards their care), nationalist rhetoric pledged continued
support. Cuban exiles and Americans had an important goal in common: to put an end to
Communism in the Western Hemisphere.32
Tensions between national allegiances and familial loyalties intensified when Parets
fifty-eight-year-old mother, Maxima Crespo, arrived in the United States to visit the un-
conscious boxer at his bedside. Immediately after learning of her sons condition from
radio broadcasts in her home in Las Villas, Maxima rushed to Havana where friends of
Bennys helped her seek permission to travel to New York City. The U.S. State Depart-
ment and the Swiss Embassy in Havana coordinated his mothers travel arrangements
since the U.S. had severed ties with the Cuban government in April of 1961 after the failed
Bay of Pigs invasion. Reports described her as alone, penniless, and unable to speak
English, and, once in Miami, she participated in the familiar routine performed by thou-
sands of Cuban migrs before her: she went to the National Catholic Relief Service in
downtown Miami where she was given $10 and a ticket to New York as well as a note
that read Take me to Roosevelt Hospital where by [sic] son is. He is Kid Paret. Maxima
reported that the Cuban government had granted her permission to remain in the U.S. for
just a few days, but that she would petition for more time if her son took longer to recu-
perate. Unlike the thousands of Cubans rushing to leave the island in the early 1960s,
Maxima revealed little desire to defect to the United States, stating through an interpreter:
I will stay in New York until my son will be getting well. Parets brother, Antonio, also
made the trip from Cuba to the United States and told the press of a pact he had made
with God in exchange for Bennys recovery: I told God I would walk without shoes for six
months starting Thursday. New York City weather, however, did not cooperate with his
plans, and he decided he would wait until his return to Cuba to complete his promise.33
The compromise must not have suited Gods plan because Paret died just four days
after his mothers arrival in the U.S. Alfaro told the press that he had cared for Paret like
he was my own son. I brought him from Cuba four years ago and I kept him like a little
baby. So I feel that I lost a son. Though his grief might be genuine, Alfaros comments
also reek of paternalism. Paret was a grown man with a child of his own and a second one
on the way. He fought in the ring, not Alfaro. He took the punches, not Alfaro. Yet, here
was Alfaro claiming that he had kept him like a little baby. If fathers are meant to keep
Spring 2011 107

their children safe, Alfaro proved to be lousy in that role. In fact, investigations into Parets
death and finances suggested that Alfaro may have stolen money from the boxer and
falsified tax documents.34
Parets death, rather than put an end to the drama, instead ignited a family tug of war
with political implications. Widow and mother stood divided over the location of Parets
burial site, and discussions erupted into an emotional, tear-stained argument. Lucy
insisted that Paret be buried in Miami, noting that he always told me that he wanted to
be buried in Miami if he died. . . . He never asked me to send him to Cuba. Thats why I
am going to bury him in Miami. Parets mother, however, wanted to take his body back
to Cuba where, she insisted, Castro would give her son a huge state funeral in Havana.
Lucy maintained that Paret will never go back to Cuba as long as Cuba is ruled by that
man. My husband will be buried in Miami where I can visit his grave. She reportedly
also told a hospital attendant that Paret worked in the underground and that she didnt
want his body used for propaganda. Maxima expressed disbelief when told that Parets
body would remain in the U.S., declaring, They have robbed me of my son. They dont
want me to take him to Cuba where he can be buried next to his father and so that his
other brothers and sisters can see him one last time. She said, My son is good, I am sure
that he always wanted to be buried in Cuba.35
The Cuban boxing community in the U.S. also spoke out about the controversy
regarding the location of Parets burial, specifically, and his Cuban identity and political
allegiances, more generally. Former Cuban boxer and Bennys close friend, Ramon Castillo,
explained to a reporter, Its false that Benny asked that he not be buried in Cuba when he
died. He was above all else a good Cuban. He was never in favor or against anyone
because he was apolitical. All Cubans are crying out for him to be buried in his home-
land. Further supporting his wish that Bennys body be returned to Cuba, Castillo con-
tinued, It is a human question. Politics shouldnt figure at a time like this. Its a shame
that Cuba doesnt scoop up one of its sons that brought it the most glory. Other Cuban
boxers reportedly agreed that Paret would have wanted his body returned to Cuba, namely
Miguel Alvarez, Juan Puig, Damaso Collazo, and Orlando Andu.36 That the private argu-
ment over Parets burial location became a matter of public discourse with political over-
tones demonstrates the extent to which tensions between the U.S. and Cuban govern-
ments shaped media coverage and competing claims on national identity. For Lucy, that
Paret was a good Cuban meant rejection of the Castro government and burial in the
United States. For Maxima and some in the Cuban boxing community, Parets Cubanness
necessitated burial in his homeland regardless of (a)political affirmations.
If, as Lucy insisted, Paret had wanted his body buried in the United States then his
death brought him a final victory. On April 4, several thousand fans arrived at Ortiz
Funeral Home in the Bronx to pay their final respects to the Cuban boxer. According to
one report, more than 20 policemen were on duty outside the funeral home to prevent
any disorder. Not surprisingly, Griffith did not make his way to the funeral home be-
cause of fears his appearance could create ill-feeling in the largely Spanish-speaking neigh-
borhood. After this viewing, Parets body was flown to Miami to lie in state at the House
of Albert Chapel at 6942 NW Fifteenth Avenue from seven in the morning to midnight.
On April 6, an estimated fifteen to twenty thousand people, a steady stream of friends, of

fight fans, and of just the curious, attended the public viewing. Lucy explained, What-
ever he was, he was because of the people. I want it that way. I know he would have
wanted it that way. Lester C. Albert, director of the funeral home, did not seem surprised
by the massive turn-out: Its the largest funeral I can ever remember. You would have to
know Paret, and to understand the customs and traditions of our people, before you could
understand why there are so many. . . . If the people didnt know him personally, they
knew of him. They knew from television and the newspapers. Nearly three hundred
Americans and Cubans gathered for the funeral mass held at Corpus Christi Roman
Catholic Church on April 7, and the New York Times reported that Paret was buried [at
Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Miami] today in the presence of refugees from his native
Cuba.37
As Paret entered the ring for his fatal bout with Griffith, the crowd booed immedi-
ately when his home was announced as Santa Clara, Cuba. Yet, as one sportswriter noted,
Benny wouldnt have known Castro from one of the Smith brothers. But prejudice
knows no rules of rationalization.38 Perhaps that may be why the simple act of Lucy
pinning a small Cuban flag to the lapel of Parets burial suit seems that much more signifi-
cant. Perhaps that may be why the act of thousands of recently arrived Cuban exiles
taking time to honor his life may seem so moving. Other Cuban boxers had entered the
ring before him and many followed after him, but the story of Benny Kid Paret offers a
look at the extent to which strained U.S.-Cuba relations and a waning interest in boxing
shaped the medias coverage of his death in the ring as well as issues of Cuban-American
identity.
KEYWORDS: AFRO-CUBAN, BOXING, RACE, U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS, NEWSPAPERS, LATINOS

1
Luisa A. Quintero, New York La Prensa (hereafter La Prensa), 30 March 1962. According to unof-
ficial records, the attendance at Madison Square Garden for the Scott-Paret bout totaled 2,305 and
netted a gate worth of $4,401. Folder 1, box 39, box 880, Weston Collection, The Joyce Sports Research
Collection, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana (hereafter Weston Collection). Officials at
ringside scored the match 6-3-1, 6-4, 7-3. Jack Cuddy, Hail Benny Paret as the New Gaviln, Chicago
Defender (hereafter CD), 21 December 1959, p. 27.
2
Castro Message Bids Paret Win Your Battle, New York Times (hereafter NYT), 19 December
1959, p. 23; Deane McGowen, Paret Outpoints Scott with Speedy Punching and Footwork in Garden
Bout, NYT, 19 December 1959, p. 23; Paret Upsets Scott, Miami Herald (hereafter MH), 19 Decem-
ber 1959, sec. D, p. 2; Benny Paret Upsets Scott, Washington Post, 19 December 1959, sec. A, p. 14;
Benny Paret Upsets Scott in TV Fight, Los Angeles Times (hereafter LAT ), 19 December 1959, sec. A,
p. 2; Cuddy, Hail Benny Paret as the New Gaviln.
3
Fred Eisenstadt, Profile: Benny Kid Paret, Ring Magazine (hereafter RM), May 1960, pp. 18-19
[QUOTATION], 49; Louis Hart, New Champion Benny Kid Paret, Boxing Illustrated, August 1960, pp.
38-39; Fred Down, Referee Defends His Judgment: Boxing Is That Kind of Game, MH, 26 March
1962, sec. D, p. 1; William R. Cronklin, Griffith Beaten on Split Verdict, NYT, 1 October 1961, sec. S,
p. 1; Jim Murray, Boxings Requiem, LAT, 27 March 1962, sec. B, p. 1; Paret Dice Noqueara a Emile
Griffith, La Prensa, 25 March 1962; Luisa A. Quintero, Marginalia: Benny Paret, La Prensa, 30 March
1962, p. 12; Murray Goodman, Kid Paret: Judges Dilemma, unknown publication source found in
folder 1, box 39, box 880, Weston Collection; Robert M. Lipsyte, The Story of Benny (Kid) Paret:
From $4 a Day to a World Title, NYT, 3 April 1962, p. 47.
Spring 2011 109

4
Foreign Boxers Advance in Fight Poll, CD, 13 April 1960, sec. A, p. 22; Jersey Jones, Successful
Invasion by Cubans, The Ring, December 1959, pp. 6-7; Profiles of Fighters Seen, The Ring, March
1960, p. 40; Fidel Stops Boxing, Cubans Move Out, RM, November 1961, pp. 5, 58; Dwight Chapin,
Napoles Last of Cuban Contenders, LAT, 13 June 1968, sec. F, p. 8. Davey Moore died from injuries
he received at the hands of Sugar Ramos on March 21, 1983, in Los Angeles Dodger Stadium; Men-
tor of Mighty Mites, Time, 27 December 1971, <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/
0,9171,905624,00.html> [29 March 2011]; Braven Dyer, Sports Parade, LAT, 26 May 1960, sec. C, p.
2; Rodriguez Arrives for Bout Here, 1 April 1960, LAT, sec. C, p. 7; Goodman, Kid Paret: Judges
Dilemma; Robert Carpenter, A Sensational New Cuban Kid, Boxing Illustrated, January 1960, pp. 14-
16, 65; Cuban Tells Easy Win over Don, folder 1, box 39, box 880,Weston Collection, [QUOTATION].
Unofficial records estimated the Paret-Jordan title bout drew a crowd of 3,692 to the Convention Center
in Las Vegas. The bout grossed $38,930 with Paret netting $7,786. Another report estimated that Parets
take from the title fight was $5,087.20, about 30 percent of the net gate. Jordans Future Bleak as Purse,
Title Gone, John de la Vega, LAT, 29 May 1960, sec. G, p 5; Parnassus Plans NBA Protest over Paret
Title Choice, CD, 30 March 1960, sec. A, p. 23.
5
Jersey Jones, Successful Invasion by Cubans, RM, December 1959, pp. 6-7 [1st QUOTATION];
Hart, New Champion Benny Kid Paret; Al Buck, Paret Outpoints Jordan, RM, August 1960, pp.
18-19, 50 [2nd QUOTATION]; Review of 1961, Boxing Illustrated, January 1962, p. [illegible]; Paula J.
Pettavino and Geralyn Pye, Sport in Cuba: The Diamond in the Rough (Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of
Pittsburgh Press, 1994), 69; John Sugden, Boxing and Society: An International Analysis (Manchester,
U.K.: Manchester University Press, 1999), 150; Fidel Stops Boxing, Cubans Move Out, RM, Novem-
ber 1961, pp. 5, 58 [3rd and 4th QUOTATIONS].
6
Howard A. Rusk, M.D., Paret: A Prognosis, NYT, 1 April 1962, p. 52.
7
Randy Roberts, Papa Jack: Jack Johnson and the Era of White Hopes (New York: The Free Press,
1983); Jeffrey T. Sammons, Beyond the Ring: The Role of Boxing in American Society (Urbana: University
of Illinois Press, 1988); Sugden, Boxing and Society; Randy Roberts, Joe Louis: Hard Times Man (New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2010); Elliott J. Gorn, Muhammad Ali: The Peoples Champ (Ur-
bana: University of Illinois Press, 1998); David W. Zang, The Greatest: Muhammad Alis Confounding
Character, in Sport and the Color Line: Black Athletes and Race Relations in Twentieth Century America,
eds. Patrick B. Miller and David K. Wiggins (New York: Routledge, 2004); Randy Roberts and J. Gre-
gory Garrison, eds., Heavy Justice: The Trial of Mike Tyson (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas, 2000).
8
Sammons, Beyond the Ring, pp. 236 [QUOTATION], 97.
9
Louis A. Prez, Jr., Cuba and the United States: Ties of Singular Intimacy (Athens: University of
Georgia Press, 1997); idem, Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press,
1988); idem, The War of 1898: The United States and Cuba in History and Historiography (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1998); idem, On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and Culture
(New York: HarperCollins, 1999); Sugden, Boxing and Society, 133; Gorn, The Manly Art.
10
Prez, Jr., On Becoming Cuban, 175-176 [1st QUOTATION ]; Sugden, Boxing and Society, 133 [2nd
QUOTATION]; Pettavino and Pye, Sport in Cuba.
11
Louis A. Prez, Jr., Between Baseball and Bullfighting: The Quest for Nationality in Cuba, 1868-
1898, Journal of American History 81 (1994): 505.
12
Maria de los Angeles Torres, In the Land of the Mirrors: Cuban Exile Politics in the United States
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1999); Paula J. Pettavino and Geralyn Pye, Sport in Cuba: Castros
Last Stand, in Sport in Latin America and the Caribbean, eds. Joseph Arbena and David G. LaFrance
(Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Sources, 2002), 158; Pettavino and Pye, Sport in Cuba.
13
Fernando Delgado, Golden but Not Brown: Oscar de la Hoya and the Complications of Cul-
ture, Manhood, and Boxing, International Journal of the History of Sport 22 (2005): 196-211; Gregory
Rodriguez, Boxing and Masculinity: The History and (Her)story of Oscar de la Hoya, in Latino/a
Popular Culture, eds. Michelle Habell-Pallan and Mary Romero (New York: New York University Press,
2002); Agustin Lao-Montes, The Latinization of New York City, in Mambo Montage: The Latinization
of New York City, eds. Agustin Lao-Montes and Arlene Davila (New York: Columbia University Press,

2001); Gabriel Haslip-Viera, The Evolution of the Latino Community in New York City: Early Nine-
teenth Century to the Present, in Latinos in New York: Communities in Transition, eds. Gabriel Haslip-
Viera and Sherrie L. Baver (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996); Adrian Burgos,
Jr., Playing Ball in a Black and White Field of Dreams: Afro-Caribbean Ballplayers in the Negro Leagues,
1910-1950, The Journal of Negro History 82 (1997): 67-104; idem, Playing Americas Game: Baseball,
Latinos, and the Color Line (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), 4 [1st QUOTATION], 204 [2nd
QUOTATION].
14
Edwin Pope, Griffith KOs Paret in the 13th, MH, 2 April 1961, sec. D, p. 1 [1st and 2nd QUOTA-
TIONS]; Robert M. Lipsyte, A Title for a Fighting Choir Boy, NYT, 3 April 1961, p. 38; Tom Ephrem,
Griffith Crowned King, RM, June 1961, pp. 6-7, 53 [3rd QUOTATION]; Jimmy Burns, Griffiths Mom
Almost Floored by KO and Excitement of Fight, MH, 2 April 1961, sec. D, p. 3 [4th QUOTATION]; Pete
Bratager, Griffith Took Tip; Paret Cried Cant Count in English, MH, 2 April 1961, sec. D, p. 5 [ALL
REMAINING QUOTATIONS].
15
Nat Fleischer, Paret Regains Throne, RM, December 1961, pp. 6, 49 [1st QUOTATION]; Conklin,
Griffith Beaten on Split Verdict; Paret Decisions Griffith to Regain Welter Crown, MH, 1 October
1961, sec. C, p. 2 [2nd and 4th QUOTATIONS]; Fleischer, Paret Regains Throne [3rd QUOTATION]; Conklin,
Griffith Beaten on Split Verdict; Benny Paret Regains Title, Washington Post, 2 October 1961, sec. A,
p. 24; Emile Griffith, I Wuz Robbed In Exclusive Story He Gives Inside Facts of Split Decision Loss of
Welter Title to Paret, RM, January 1962, pp. 6-7, 43 [5th and 6th QUOTATIONS].
16
Conklin, Griffith Beaten on Split Verdict [1st QUOTATION]; Miguel Luis, La Cuestion del Dia,
La Prensa, 3 April 1962, p. 11; John Hall, Moore to Bar Public in Local Workout, LAT, 18 March
1962, sec. G, p. 11 [2nd QUOTATION]; Paret and Griffith in Showdown Bout, Pittsburgh Courier, 17
March 1962, sec. A, p. 28 [3rd QUOTATION]; Tommy Picou, Tommys Corner, CD, 28 March 1962, p.
23.
17
Robert L. Teague, Griffith is Victor, NYT, 25 March 1962, p. 201 [4th QUOTATION]; Nat Fleischer,
A Man Gone Berserk, RM, June 1962, pp. 6-9 [1st and 3rd QUOTATIONS]; Lipsyte, The Story of Benny
(Kid) Paret; Berserk Griffith Kos Paret in 12 to Regain Crown, MH, 25 March 1962, sec. D, p. 3 [2nd
and 5th QUOTATIONS]; Boxer Hovers Near Death; Inquiry Asked, MH, 26 March 1962, p. 1.
18
Miami Boxer Unconscious after Fight, MH, 25 March 1962, p. 1 [1st QUOTATION]; Death in
the Ring, NYT, 8 April 1961, sec. E, p. 2; Boxer Hovers Near Death [2nd QUOTATION]; Nat Fleischer,
Nat Fleischer Speaks Out! RM, June 1962, p. 5; Fullmer 3-1 Choice, Washington Post, 8 December
1961, sec. C, p. 3; Dateline in Sports, LAT, 13 December 1961, sec. C, p. 5; Charley Williams, Fullmer
Challenges Downes, RM, February 1962, pp. 30-31; Boxing Illustrated, June 1961, pp. 14-15 [3rd and
4th QUOTATIONS]; Don Page, Sportslook, LAT, 24 March 1962, sec. B, p. 5; Fleischer, A Man Gone
Beserk; John P. Carmichael, Where Was Kids Pilot When Match Was OKd? MH, 29 March, 1962,
sec. C, p. 2; Miguel Luis, La Cuestion del Dia, La Prensa, 3 April 1962, p. 11.
19
Robert M. Lipsyte, Parets Manager Says Goldstein Should Have Halted Bout Sooner, NYT, 26
March 1962, p. 40 [1st and 3rd QUOTATIONS]; Kid Paret Slightly Improved, MH, 28 March 1962, sec.
D, p. 1; Fred Down, Referee Defends His Judgment: Boxing Is That Kind of Game, MH, 26 March
1962, sec. D, p. 1 [2nd and 4th QUOTATIONS]; Picou, Tommys Corner; Red Smith, Bleeding Hearts
Hits, Washington Post, 3 April 1962, sec. A, p. 21; Shirley Povich, This Morning, Washington Post, 4
April 1962, sec. C, p. 1; Magnified by TV, Time, 6 April 1962, <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/
article/0,9171,896041,00.html>[29 March 2011]; Fleischer, A Man Gone Beserk.
20
Fleischer, A Man Gone Beserk [1st QUOTATION]; Lipsyte, The Story of Benny (Kid) Paret [2nd
rd
and 3 QUOTATIONS]; Se Respetaban los Puos, Pero no las Personalidades, La Prensa, 27 March 1962,
p. 2 [4th and 5th QUOTATIONS]; Picou, Tommys Corner [6th and 7th QUOTATIONS]; Jose J. Torres Cintron,
Griffith Intent Matar a Mi Esposo, La Prensa, 27 March 1962, p. 3 [8th QUOTATION]; No Pal, But
Didnt Mean Him Harm, MH, 26 March 1962, sec. D, p. 1 [9th and 10th QUOTATIONS]; Robert L.
Teague, Griffith Testified He Didnt Realize Paret Was Helpless in Fatal Bout, NYT, 23 May 1962, p.
57 [11th QUOTATION]; Mrs. Paret Bitter; Writers Rip Boxing, MH, 27 March 1962, sec. D, p. 1; Jim
Becker, Take Me Along Sobs Mrs. Paret, MH, 4 April 1962, sec. C, p. 1; Jim Murray, Sonny and
Me, LAT, 7 December 1962, sec. B, p. 1; idem, Emile, but No Zola, LAT, 13 December 1962, sec. B,
Spring 2011 111

p. 1; James Boniewozik, Shadowboxer, Time, 10 April 2005, <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/

article/0,9171,1047401,00.html> [29 March 2011]; Robert Lipsyte, Are You Crazy? NYT, 5 Decem-
ber 1970, p. 48; Dave Anderson, The Burden of Haunted Boxers, NYT, 2 December 1979, sec. S, p. 4;
Dave Brady, Leonard: Love Is the Message, Washington Post, 19 June 1980, sec. F, p. 1; Ring of Fire:
The Emile Griffith Story, dir. and prod. Dan Klores and Ron Berger, 2005, Starz/Anchor Bay, 87 mins.
21
Parets a Walking Jewelry Store, folder 1, box 38, box 880, Weston Collection [1st QUOTATION];
Eisenstadt, Profile: Benny Kid Paret [2nd QUOTATION]; Welter King Paret, Wife Attacked, LAT, 18
October 1960, sec. C, p. 2. In this same interview, when asked if he still had all his teeth, he replied: Yes,
and they are valuable. Some of them contain gold (Parets a Walking Jewelry Store).
22
Jim Murray, Boxings Requiem, LAT, 27 March 1962, sec. B, p. 1; Charles Whited, Parets
Miami Home Now Stands Silent, MH, 26 March 1962, sec. A, p. 2 [1st and 2nd QUOTATIONS]; Robert
M. Lipsyte The Story of Benny (Kid) Paret: From $4 a Day to a World Title, NYT, 3 April 1962, 47
[ALL REMAINING QUOTATIONS]; $35,000 para Celenia, La Prensa, 5 April 1962, p. 2.
23
Mrs. Paret Bitter [1st QUOTATION]; Picou, Tommys Corner [2nd QUOTATION]; Dorothy Kilgallen,
Broadway Stunned by Paret Beating, Washington Post, 29 March 1962, sec. B, p. 16 [ALL REMAINING
QUOTATIONS].
24
Murray, Boxings Requiem.
25
Jim Murray, No Rose for Benny, LAT, 5 April 1962, sec. B, p. 1; Jimmy Burns, Prize Fighting
Is Only Sport Stressing Killer Instinct, MH, 27 March 1962, sec. D, p. 1; Picou, Tommys Corner
[1st QUOTATION]; Arthur Dale, Is It Worth the Price? NYT, 1 April 1962, p. 186; Govt Eyes Probe of
Parets Death, Pittsburgh Courier, 2 June 1962, p. 20 [2nd QUOTATION]; Fleischer, Nat Fleischer Speaks
Out! [3rd QUOTATION]; Povich, This Morning, [4th QUOTATION]; John Hall, 5,000 Fans Watch
Lavos Ring Drill, LAT, 26 March 1962, sec. B, p. 5; Gene Miller, Just Bad Luck: Happens Every
Day, MH, 4 April 1962, sec. C, p. 1 [5th QUOTATION].
26
Dan Daniel, The Ring Investigates the Investigations, RM, October 1962, pp. 24-25, 43 [1st
QUOTATION]; Povich, This Morning, [2nd QUOTATION]; Dale, Is It Worth the Price? [3rd QUOTA-
TION]; Magnified by TV; Don Page, Replay of Paret KO Low Blow to Boxing, LAT, 31 March 1962,
sec. B, p. 3; Jimmy Connon, Not Even Approach of Death Impedes Grisly Showmanship, MH, 29
March 1962, sec. C, p. 2 [4th, 5th, and 6th QUOTATIONS]; Fleischer, Nat Fleischer Speaks Out! [7th
QUOTATION]; Fleischer, A Man Gone Beserk,; Don Page, No Punches Pulled by TV in Griffith Bout,
LAT, 15 December 1962, sec. B, p. 3.
27
Burns, Prize Fighting Is Only Sport Stressing Killer Instinct, [1st and 2nd QUOTATIONS]; Ted
Carroll, Do Fans Make Brutality? RM, June 1962, pp. 20-21, 45 [3rd and 4th QUOTATIONS].
28
Jack Gould, Television Network Will Drop Boxing from Weekly Programing [sic] in 1964,
NYT, 23 December 1962, p. 39 [1st QUOTATION]; Kid Paret Slightly Improved; TV Station Bans
National Fights, LAT, 28 March 1962, sec. B, p. 1 [2nd QUOTATION]; Murray, Boxings Requiem [3rd
QUOTATION]; Sid Ziff, More on Boxing, LAT, 29 March 1962, sec. B, p. 3 [4th QUOTATION]; Murray,
Emile, but No Zola.
29
Jim Murray, Getim Gaspar! LAT, 27 February 1961, sec. C, p. 1 [1st, 3rd, and 4th QUOTATIONS];
Ortega Not Satisfied, NYT, 27 February 1961, p. 31 [2nd QUOTATION]; Ortega-Paret, Boxing Illus-
trated, May 1961, p. 12; Ortega Loss Hurts Parets Title Defense, CD, 27 February 1961, p. 22.
30
Louis Hart, New Champion Benny Kid Paret, Boxing Illustrated, August 1960, pp. 38-39 [2nd
QUOTATION]; Nat Fleischer, Youth Triumphs, RM, February 1961, pp. 30-31 [3rd QUOTATION]; Griffith
Solid Choice to Regain Welter Title, LAT, 24 March 1962, sec. A, p. 3 [4th QUOTATION]; Paret Gains
Slightly; Stricter Laws Studied, MH, 29 March 1962, sec. C, p. 3 [5th QUOTATION]; Paret-Thompson,
Boxing Illustrated, June 1960, p. 18 [1st and 5th QUOTATIONS]; Lipsyte, The Story of Benny (Kid) Paret;
Whited, Parets Miami Home Now Stands Silent [6th QUOTATION]; Eisenstadt, Profile: Benny Kid
Paret; Nat Loubet, Welters Evoke New Interest, RM, June 1960, pp. 18-19, 44; Fidel Stops Boxing;
Cubans Move Out; Miami Boxer Unconscious after Fight; Misfortunes Plague Negro Athletes,
Pittsburgh Courier, 11 August 1962, p. 20 [7th QUOTATION]; Vatican Condemns Boxing, NYT, 8 April
1962, sec. S, p. 1[8th QUOTATION].

31
My research uncovered only one reference to Parets immigrant status in the United States. This
news report indicated that Paret was a resident alien who wanted to become an American citizen.
Lipsyte, The Story of Benny (Kid) Paret.
32
Maria Cristina Garcia, Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959-
1994 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996); De los Angeles Torres, In the Land of the Mirrors;
Alejandro Portes and Alex Stepick, City on the Edge: The Transformation of Miami (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1993).
33
Clearance Sought to Fly Parets Mother to U.S., NYT, 28 March 1962, p. 42; Parets Mother
Arrives to Join Vigil at Ex-Champions Bedside, NYT, 31 March 1962, p. 19 [4th QUOTATION]; Jose J.
Torres, Mataron a mi Hijo, Dice Madre de Paret, La Prensa, 1 April 1962, p. 2; Controversy Rages
over Boxing in N.Y., Pittsburgh Courier, 7 April 1962, sec. A, p. 30 [1st, 2nd, and 3rd QUOTATIONS]. News
reports confirmed that the Cuban government paid for her airfare to Miami and that Catholic Charities
paid for her trip to New York City. Jose J. Torres, Mataron a mi Hijo; Doctors Still Fear for Paret,
MH, 30 March 1962, sec. C, p. 1 [5th QUOTATION].
34
Robert Muller, Parets Death Strikes Knockout Blow to Family, CD, 4 April 1962, p. 22 [QUO-
TATION]; Teague, Griffith Testified. Parets mother reported that Alfaro gave her some of Bennys
jewelry including a watch, a necklace, a bracelet with his name encrusted in gold and diamonds, and a
ring. La Prensa, 4 April 1962, p. 3.
35
35-Gs Parets Share from Fatal Fight, 5 April 1962, CD, p. 22 [1st QUOTATION]; Paret Burial
May Have Political Overtone, folder 3, box 39, box 880, Weston Collection; Paret Will Be Buried
Here, MH, 4 April 1962, sec. A, p. 1 [2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th QUOTATIONS]; Jose J. Torres Cintron,
Autopsia: Griffith Mato a Paret, La Prensa, 4 April 1962, p. 31 [3rd QUOTATION]; Me han quitado mi
hijo, dice llorando la madre de Benny, La Prensa, 4 April 1962, p. 3 [8th and 9th QUOTATIONS].
36
Jams Pidio Que No lo Enterraran en Cuba, La Prensa, 4 April 1962, p. 3.
37
Fans Pay Respects to Paret; Probes of Boxing Pushed, MH, 5 April 1962, sec. D, p. 1 [1st, 2nd,
rd
and 3 QUOTATIONS]; Charles Whited, A Wife Returns . . . Her Husband Too, MH, 6 April 1962, sec.
C, p. 1; Luther C. Evans, Benny Paret Was the 13th Passenger, MH, 6 April 1962, sec. C, p. 1; Pat
Putman, Whatever Paret Was . . . Was Because of People, MH, 7 April 1962, sec. D, p. 3 [4th, 5th, and
6th QUOTATIONS]; Paret Buried in Miami, NYT, 8 April 1962, sec. S, p. 2 [7th and 8th QUOTATIONS].
The documentary, Ring of Fire, indicates Paret was buried at St. Raymond Cemetery in the Bronx and
that Lucy has not visited the gravesite in forty-two years. My research did not uncover any explanation
for the transfer of the body.
38
Durslag Defends Title Fight Referee, folder 3, box 39, box 880, Weston Collection.
Spring 2011 113


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The Story of Benny Kid Paret: Cuban Boxers, the Cuban Revolution, and the U.S.

The Story of Benny Kid

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KEYWORDS: AFRO-CUBAN, BOXING, RACE, U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS, NEWSPAPERS, LATINOS

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