Griffin and Mack play it to the bone

Griffin and Mack play it to the bone

Mark E. Ortega

UndisputedFightMag.com

January 10, 2011

In boxing, they say friends don't make for good fights.

On February 4^th, light heavyweights Otis “Triple OG” Griffin [23-6-2, 9 KOs] and Yusaf Mack [28-3-2, 17 KOs], friends for a number of years, will be looking across the ring at each other with a IBF world title shot being the spoils to the winner. What makes this fight different from many other clashes amongst friends is that neither man is already at the top of the sport.

Consider this fight a real life version of the 1999 boxing comedy “Play It to the Bone”, which starred Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson as fringe contenders who trained out of the same gym and were given the opportunity to fight each other for a shot at the world title.

In that film, Woddy Harrelson as Vince Boudreau said “The worst thing in the ring you wanna feel is compassion.”

Many times in the past when two friends have fought each other, that was the final result. Joe Louis showed John Henry Lewis compassion by given the legally blind but down-and-out Lewis a big payday and knocked him out in one round, sparing him a beating and also making history as the fight was the first between two African-Americans for the heavyweight crown. Muhammad Ali gave former sparring partner Jimmy Ellis a bigtime fight which was theatrics more than anything as Ali even allowed his trainer Angelo Dundee to train Ellis instead, since Dundee doubled as his manager.

One fight in which two friends were able to stand in the ring and trade with each other was the classic 1991 bout between Simon Brown and Maurice Blocker, a unification clash at 147 pounds that saw Brown score a dramatic tenth-round knockout over Blocker in a fight he was trailing on the cards in. Brown served as Blocker's best man in his wedding, the two were neighbors and even occassionally babysat for each other.

While both Yusaf Mack and Otis Griffin are not quite that close, both fighters expect a fight more akin to Brown-Blocker than Ali-Ellis.

“It's gonna be high speed chess but it has all the elements of a great fight,” claimed Griffin. “It's two guys who have fought at the world class level, it's going to be tactical at times and aggressive at times. We are two guys where this is a fight we both have to win.”

The two spent an integral part of their respective careers training together at Lake Arrowhead, California under John Tandy.

“They worked together well, supported each other and I feel it is a shame that they have been forced together for this fight, it is not a fight I ever wanted to see, but that is boxing. They were friends before the fight and they will be friends after,” said Tandy when asked about the fight.

“The fight was talked about while we were working together but I never thought it would happen,” continued Tandy. “I still believe that Otis is a super middleweight and Yusaf is a light heavyweight, and if they ever did meet there would be a lot more on the line. Both of these guys deserve to make it and I am sorry to see that maybe only the winner will get a shot.”

Prior to working with Tandy, Otis Griffin was known for winning Oscar De La Hoya's Contender knockoff “The Next Great Champ” and later being knocked out by Danny Green in Australia in a dirty fight. After a tuneup, Griffin achieved his best performance under Tandy, outfighting former world champion Jeff Lacy in April of 2009 over ten rounds. Griffin was robbed as Lacy was awarded a hometown majority decision in the off-television fight which can be seen on YouTube.

Tandy trained Griffin through camp for his rematch with Ernesto Castaneda. Griffin is now trained under Seifudeen Mateen and scored his biggest win against former world champion Byron Mitchell last May.

Mack's career was resurrected by Tandy who got him back on track following his defeat to Librado Andrade. Mack scored credible victories over Daniel Judah and Chris Henry over this stretch but suffered a knockout defeat to Glen Johnson in an eliminator this past February. Mack suffered an injured shoulder and has not fought since.

The question is, can these two fighters who spent so much time together put things aside and fight?

“I think friendship will be put to one side and will not even occur to either fighter once the first bell goes and I would expect nothing else from these guys. They will be looking to put each other to sleep,” opined Tandy.

“The friendship thing won't bother me and I am sure it won't bother Yusaf,” noted Griffin when asked how difficult it will be to fight a friend. “I don't think any fight out there will be as difficult as the Byron Mitchell fight. A lot of people don't understand how brutal that fight was, I took a lot of hard shots. I don't think Yusaf or Tavoris Cloud have what Mitchell had coming with relentless pressure.”

Despite being the one on a winning streak, Griffin will likely head into the fight the underdog. All of his recent wins have occurred off television while Mack's defining victories have been televised by ESPN.

“I love being the underdog,” exclaimed Griffin. “One thing I hate in boxing is when you go in against a journeyman and people say, 'Griffin should be able to do this and do that'. I hate having that pressure. A lot of people still have in mind that green athletic kid from 'The Next Great Champ' in mind when the name Otis Griffin comes up, and that is fine with me, as I have come a long way since then.”

Tandy agrees that Griffin has been overlooked for a majority of his career.

“The public perception of Otis I think is probably another reality show winner that hasn't really gone on and achieved much but that is really harsh as he has had a tough time with fights, getting Green on too short notice and the crap refereeing, Brinkley who has proven he is a tough customer while Otis was weight drained, Lacy he got robbed against and Oliveira was just a very tough time on Otis' personal life. I am glad now he is finally getting some success, it is well deserved and he has worked very hard to get where he is. He is the hardest worker I have ever worked with.”

Griffin could have gone straight to a title fight with Tavoris Cloud this past December, but he turned down offers from Don King that he felt were too low.

“Development wise, we needed this fight with Yusaf to be ready for the world title. I don't want to just win it, I want to keep it. We needed this fifth fight before the world title fight. It was a plus to get that call for the world title but once it seemed like we were in a rush in the negotiations we thought more about it. Nobody is in a hurry but the devil.”

They say friends don't make for good fights, but that's usually due to the fact that they step into the ring with each other when they're already guaranteed six or seven figures win or lose. For Griffin and Mack, those kinds of paydays are right around the corner, but only if you come out on top. Because of that you can expect a good battle on February 4^th.