LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Plans are under way in Hollywood to make a movie about former welterweight boxing champion Emile Griffith, Daily Variety said Thursday.
The paper said Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment will buy remake rights to the documentary "Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story," which just had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
In his most famous fight, Griffith beat Benny "Kid" Paret unconscious in a nationally televised fight at Madison Square Garden in 1962. Paret died 10 days after the bout.
Paret, a Cuban, had taunted Griffith, a native of the Virgin Islands, with the term "Maricon," a derogatory Spanish term for homosexual. Griffith was not prosecuted and fought for 15 more years -- winning six titles.
Fallout from Paret's death included calls for boxing to be banned and a reluctance on the part of broadcasters to televise bouts.
