He won bouts against champion Torpedo Billy Murphy a total of four times, twice in World Featherweight title matches.

[3][4][5] He said in a 1902 interview with The Cincinnati Enquirer that Larry Foley of Sydney had acted as an important early boxing mentor, and indeed Griffo had trained at Foley's boxing school at Sydney's White Horse Hotel where several of the greatest champions had spent time, including triple weight class champion Bob Fitzsimmons.

[6] On 26 December 1889, he fought Nipper Peakes in Melbourne for the Australian Featherweight Championship winning in an eight-round points decision.

[2] He first took the World Featherweight Title against Torpedo Billy Murphy on 2 September 1890 at the White Horse Hotel in Sydney in a fifteen-round decision.

At the time, the United States only recognized bouts that took place in North America, and so did not fully accept Griffo's claim to the World Title, but both Australia and Great Britain did.

He defended the British and Australian version of the World Featherweight title against Paddy Moran on 4 November 1890 in a 13-round decision in Sydney.

[2] Griffo defended the World Featherweight Title a third time against Torpedo Billy Murphy again in Sydney, Australia on 22 July 1891, winning in a 20-second round disqualification.

[7] In his final defense of the World Featherweight Title, he defeated Mick McCarthy on 22 March 1892 in Sydney in a fourth-round decision.

He fought for the Australian Lightweight Title on 25 July 1892 against Jim Barron in Sydney, Australia in a 22-round bout that was declared a draw.

[9] One of his first bouts in America was against "Young Scotty" in Chicago on 13 November 1893, where he was reputed to have challenged his opponent to hit him for several minutes while he bobbed his head and managed to avoid nearly every blow.

[10] On 3 January 1894, he fought future World Featherweight champion Solly Smith at the Tivoli Theatre in Chicago to a six-round draw.

[16] On 27 August 1894, he lost to the famed seven-year undefeated World Lightweight Champion Jack McAuliffe in Brooklyn, New York, losing in a 10-round points decision.

On 10 February 1894, he fought future World Lightweight Champion George "Kid" Lavigne for the first time in an eight-round draw in Chicago.

[2] He subsequently fought an eight-round draw with the hard-hitting red head boxer Johnny Griffin at the Casino in Boston on 23 April 1894.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, wrote that the two men were very "poorly matched", and that it was a relief when the referee Dominick McAffrey stopped the bout.

[17] On 4 March 1895, he defeated Horace Leeds at the Seaside Athletic Club in Coney Island in a 12-round bout in front of a sizable crowd of 4000 spectators.

[20] On 28 October 1895, he fought the great Black Canadian champion George Dixon in a 10-round draw by points decision in Manhattan.

On 11 April 1896, he was arrested at a Casino he frequented in College Point, Long Island, on charges of assault against William Connors, a town trustee.

[22] On 13 April, the day he would have faced trial on the assault charge, he lost the 20-round bout at the Empire Athletic Club with McKeever in Queens, New York, on a points decision of the referee.

[2] He met one time World Featherweight and Lightweight champion Frank Erne on 20 December 1895 in a four-round non-title fight that resulted in a draw in Buffalo, New York.

[2] He defeated Torpedo Billy Murphy in a non-title match ending in an eight-round points decision at the Casino in Boston on 7 May 1894.

He lost to World Welter and Middleweight Champion Tommy Ryan on 21 June 1897 in a non-title match in a third-round technical knockout in Brooklyn, New York.

The San Francisco Call wrote that Griffo's vehicle had been struck by a street car on the way to the bout, and that he had suffered a sprained shoulder as a result.

[42] On 26 March 1898, he won a bout with the well known Black boxer, Young Peter Jackson in Red Bluff, California on a fourth-round disqualification.

[45] On 22 August 1902, he lost to three-time World Featherweight Title contender Joe Bernstein in Baltimore, Maryland in a 20-round points decision.

[49] In a tribute to Griffo, boxer Tommy Sullivan wrote in the 6 March 1916 Tacoma Daily News: Not known as much of a puncher, but his skill was uncanny.

[53] For the last 15 years of his life, he took donations and met friends at the entrance to New York's Rialto Theatre on Broadway and 42nd Street, becoming increasingly destitute by 1925.

He received medical aid too late after dragging himself into a hall from his small, rent-free room in a West side New York boarding house paid for by Jane F. Fish, an author of children's books.

[57][58] Several newspaper accounts after his death attributed his financial plight in part to his illiteracy as well as a poor understanding of numbers and currency, which made him an easy victim of unscrupulous handlers.

Ring notables in attendance included Jack McAuliffe, Kid McPartland, Tommy Burns, James J. Corbett, and wealthy boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who provided funding for the burial plot and casket.