(photo courtesy of CTB Management)

AVIOUS GRIFFIN IS BACK ON COURSE AS AN UP-AND-COMING, UNDEFEATED FIGHTER – EVEN AFTER HIS LIFE WAS DERAILED BY SERVING TIME FOR A CRIME HE DIDN’T COMMIT

Avious Griffin had a tingling feeling that something was not right when he got out of his car around three in the morning on May 20, 2018. There was a guy in a white truck talking on what looked like a cell phone in his apartment complex parking lot. The thoughts flashed through his mind: ‘Who was he? What did he want that early in the morning?’ A few hours later, Griffin found out who the guy was and why he was there. His apartment door was kicked in, flashlights blinded him in his bed, and eight cops told him he was being arrested. In his groggy state, eyes at half mast, all Griffin could absorb was some mention of a murder charge.

He was allowed to put on some sweatpants, a T-shirt and white Air Force 1 sneakers. That is how he went to jail.

It was the beginning of a year-long ordeal in which Griffin was charged with first-degree murder of a pregnant woman on July 24, 2017, in Johnson City, Tennessee, where he was living at the time. He was incriminated by three other men during the 10-month investigation. Day after day, for a year, Griffin sat in a six-by-six concrete cell armed with something no one wanted to believe – the truth.

Today, Griffin, 30, somehow remains upbeat. The undefeated welterweight improved his record to 14-0, with 13 knockouts, after scoring a second-round stoppage of William Jackson at The Met Philadelphia on August 24.

“The Underdog” could have every reason to be angry at the world. He isn’t. He could fall, as many do, in a depressed funk. He doesn’t. He could lean on excuses, say his boxing career was temporarily derailed by what happened to him. He won’t.

Griffin knocked out Jose Alberto Gazo in March 2023. (Photo courtesy of CTB Management)

“I had a lot of people I thought were close to me turn their backs on me.”

“In the beginning, no one was saying anything, and Avious was falsely caught up with it, used as a patsy when one of the suspects claimed Avious had his car, which he obviously did not,” said defense attorney Russell Kloosterman, who first met Griffin years before while working out in Griffin’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. “Avious had nothing to hide. He was not involved at all. His story never changed. Avious had two legitimate alibis that the police never investigated. I tracked the people down who Avious was with.”

Right before the other three suspects went to trial, Griffin was released from prison in May 2019.

Strapped by tight finances and faced with Johnson City law enforcement unwilling to dismiss the case against him, his year-long stay occurred because he could not make bail. Almost everything involving the case seemed wrong. Griffin’s first name was even repeatedly misspelled as “Avios” by local media. One alibi involved a local Applebee’s Restaurant, where he was with two friends during the time of the crime. The pair who Griffin was with moved from Johnson City and were difficult to track down by Kloosterman. When Kloosterman asked for the restaurant surveillance video from local law enforcement, he was told no video was available.

(Photo courtesy of CTB Management).

“I had a lot of people I thought were close to me turn their backs on me,” Griffin said. “I thought my boxing career was over. I knew I didn’t do it. That’s what kept me going. I am not a psychic, but I kept thinking once I get out of jail, this is going to make a great story, and this is going to make me popular for what I overcame. I never gave up on my dream. I had to stay with the mission. My mom (Sabrena Bowerman) was counting on me to be the one my family was banking on to get us a better life. Then, damn, I go to jail on a murder charge.

“I kept telling her I was innocent. A lot of people left my side. My mother never did. She put up her house. I remember her taking out loans. A lot was put on the line to get me out. A lot of people made promises. A lot of people lied to me, that they would do this and that, and they didn’t do shit.”

Living among men mostly forgotten by the rest of the world, Griffin was not placed in the prison’s general population, because of the crime’s severity. Instead, he was put in 23-hour solitary confinement, with nothing but an hour to shadowbox and try to maintain some shape.

“It was just me, only me, and I had a brother in jail on a drug case, so this was killing my mom,” Griffin said. “People thought I was done. Even some of my boxing friends thought I was fried. I did not ask for much help, but I thought I would get some help. I was 4-0 when I got locked up, making $50 a round. All of that built a different type of anger, a different type of confidence. I’ll admit, I was angry. I had to learn how to control it.

“It takes time. I cannot dwell on that shit. I feel I can do more good than bad by keeping that anger away. I’ll use it in the ring. No one has the power I got from that experience. What example would I be if I run around angry at the world? I have a brother in jail now for something he did not really do. Hey, I made some mistakes in my life, doing stupid things when I was young. I played sports growing up, and then I found boxing. I was fortunate enough to be the only one of the few in my neighborhood with a mommy and a daddy. It just hurts that my father is not with me now.”

(Photo courtesy of CTB Management).

Avious and his father, Alvin, went everywhere together. Just before his pro career, they were in a car when Alvin started coughing uncontrollably in the back seat. Feeling something serious was brewing, Avious rushed his father to an emergency room.

It was too late.

Alvin passed away due to a brain hemorrhage on March 3, 2016.

“He was more than my father; he was my homie, he kicked it with us, he was my best friend,” Avious said about his dad. “He died in front of me. He started throwing up and I remember panicking. I was crying and ran every red light going to the hospital. I remember picking him up and putting him in a wheelchair. I never thought my dad was going to die, especially just before turning pro. If I knew that was going to be the last time I was with my dad, I would have taken my time and told him I loved him. The memory of my dad, and knowing I was innocent, I owed it to my mom and my dad to get through that prison time.

“That is part of what pushed me every day. I had to show them. I had to show everyone just how strong I am. I owed it to them. I had to turn a very negative situation into a positive.”

“When police departments feel they have someone, they just quit,” said Kloosterman. “And it is unfortunate, because you see Avious’ situation, and no one followed up on anything. Johnson City never issued him an apology. They just dismissed the case. That’s all he received. Avious has a good heart. He was angry when he got out, and I do not blame him one bit. I am so proud of him. Boxing is his life and he wants to make something of himself. The legal system is not perfect. Sometimes, it’s horrible. I never believed Avious did it. Now, he’s able to return to his dreams. He is really amazing.”

***

While in prison, Griffin was not the only one going through hell. Sabrena was, too. She had lost her husband two years prior, and now her youngest son was arrested for something she knew he did not do. She is a very religious person and says she prayed for Avious every day he was in jail, leaning on her faith and the belief that the truth would eventually surface.

“I had to remortgage my house, and I was willing to give up my home for my son. There were a few nights I would cry myself to sleep,” Bowerman said. “It was sad. People close to him wondered if he did it or not. I’m a private person and proud. I didn’t want to ask for anything. But you would think there were people that would be willing to help him and didn’t. Avious is one of the most loyal people I know. Even now, Avious has friends who are locked up who he gives money to, because when he was in jail, there were people I know he would go to bat for who were not responding.

(Photo courtesy of CTB Management).

“That hurt me more, because I know he would help someone who was in his situation.”

Griffin’s foundation comes from the old-school way Alvin and Sabrena raised him. He stresses that he came from a two-parent upbringing that was rare in his community, and he puts great stock in being held accountable in his youth and in being taught the values of right and wrong. When he did something wrong, it was mom and dad correcting him. 

Once Griffin was released, it was just his mother consoling him. Sabrena would let him vent during the times he had outbursts after his release, but those moments came fewer in time.

“I have not missed one of his fights, and I do not plan to,” Sabrena said. “Avious has good roots. One of the things I kept telling Avious is that he has a purpose. His name came to me in a dream one night before he was born. I told his father that is going to be his name, because it is going to be a name people remember. I am very proud of him. He knows. I’ll send him a text every so often. If he did not go through this, it would not have put him in the path of the right people.”

One of those people was Brandon Stump. 

Stump had his issues. He and Griffin were both damaged souls. They found each other at the right time. Stump claims that he clinically died 18 times from drug overdoses and knows he is fortunate to be alive. He jokes that he’s had two cats’ worth of lives. In 2010, when he was 23, he moved from Hudson, Ohio, to Newport Beach, California, in search of a new life. He moved out in a 1989 Nissan Altima. That was his home. When asked what he did in Cleveland, Stump said, “heroin.”

Stump cleaned up his life and got sober.

He started a rehab center called the Ohio House, which flourished into a successful business. Stump soon started another business, Charlie’s Chalk Dust, which sold vaping products to help people get off cigarettes. He sold the company in 2019, garnering enough money to retire at an early age. Next, Stump thought of building a plant-based protein company and created a brand. 

Griffin and 2023 Trainer of the Year Brian “BoMac” McIntyre. (Photo by Austyn Moreno, CTB Athletics)

Another thing Stump had started was the Ohio House boxing team. To promote the protein brand, Stump organized a smoker show and wanted to get a few pro fighters on the card. One of the team members, Spencer Manning, had known Avious growing up. Manning quickly referred Stump to Avious, who had recently been released from prison.

In 2020, Stump invited Griffin and his family out to California.

Griffin stole Stump’s sold-out smoker show and suggested that Stump become his manager. They have been together ever since, covering the last eight fights under CTB Athletics, which stands for Came To Believe.

In 2021, Stump had a relapse. Griffin saved his life.

“I don’t know where Avious would be if I wasn’t there for him, and I don’t know where I would be without Avious,” Stump said. “I don’t tell this story that often. When I signed Avious, I had 10 years of sobriety. I had a relapse and almost died in Vegas. It was Avious who picked me up and took me to a rehab. I have been three years sober since then. I can say boxing saved my life. He did.”

“I had to show them. I had to show everyone just how strong I am.”

Avious currently lives in Las Vegas. Within the past year, he met Brian “BoMac” McIntyre, the 2023 Trainer of the Year known for working with Terence Crawford. They are now a team.

Through the boxing grapevine, McIntyre had heard about Griffin’s plight. McIntyre admits, at age 30, things will be accelerated for Griffin. But having done a prison stint himself, BoMac can empathize with what Griffin had to go through.

“It’s why I wanted to get involved with him,” McIntyre said. “It’s why I took the time out and made sure I came out to Philly for his fight. Kids like him will push themselves. He is one of those fighters who will push himself all the time. Avious is all about boxing. He wants to provide for his family. That’s what pushes him.

“We talk here and there about our prison time together. But we don’t really talk about it that much. He is really inspirational, knowing what he had been through, sitting in that cell for that amount of time, doing nothing in solitary confinement. Then to come out and see where he is right now, that is phenomenal. I try to treat all my fighters the same, like world champions. But Avious inspires me. He could have easily given up. He hasn’t.”

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been working for Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow @JSantoliquito [twitter.com]