Bare-Knuckled

Bisexual Boxer Who Beat His Homophobic Opponent To Death Is Getting A Biopic

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Soon, we can add bisexual boxer Emile Griffith to the ranks of LGBT people who’ve gotten their own biopic.

Deadline is reporting that Room director Lenny Abrahamson has optioned the book A Man’s World: The Double Life Of Emile Griffith, and wants to co-write and direct a film version.

Griffith was a ’60s boxer who won world titles in multiple weight classes, but was best known for beating Benny “The Kid” Parret to death on live TV after Parret grabbed his butt and called him a maricón (the Spanish version of “faggot”).

From what Abrahamson told Deadline, the movie sounds like it’ll be completely different than what we’ve seen before of LGBTs on film:

“As a character study, Griffith is incredibly compelling. There was a gentleness and innocence about him, and he never seemed conflicted about his sexuality; indeed he found joy in it. He inhabited two worlds — the underground gay scene in New York in the ’60s and the macho world of boxing. The societal stigma at that time was dreadful and created a crushing pressure on him.”

We’re looking forward to it. Let’s just hope it does a little better than the last LGBT period piece we got. That one didn’t go over too well.

Check out the infamous Parret fight below to take a look at Griffith in action.

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