Honestly I don't get a lot of the Harry Greb hype

[Ambling Alp II]

As for the original question, Harry Greb had a career that some people don't get and others are awed by.
Why is that?

1. Some people simply don't know much about some of the fighters that he fought. A win over say Bill Brennan or Billy Miske (though a HOFer) doesn't mean anything to them.
2. There is also the many no-decisions which cloud the issue. Some people ignore those fights completely. Others count the newspaper decision as if they are official. Others count them as somewhere in between.
3. The video issue. For whatever video, it doesn't seem that any video of him is available. Many people have a hard time rating a fighter really high whom they have never seen fight. That hurts his case in some people's eyes. It actually helps in case in other peoples eyes; you don't see the weaknesses.

I think there are ways to address these issues.
1. Simply learn more about fighters from his era. Some were bad, some average, some good, a some even great.
2. Count the no-decisions as less than an official win but they have to count for something.
3. Look at as much video of fighters they he fought that as you can. Then look at the results when he fought them. i.e. if he lost or barely beat a guy who isn't impressive on video, that hurts Greb's case. If you see a guy that is impressive that Greb beat, that should count in Greb's favor.

[winifred8]

Greb and Rosenbloom fought the toughest campaigns in boxing history. Plus Rosenbloom fought 63 matches against the greatest black boxers of his era (160 lb, 175 and hvy.) losing only 3. People criticize Maxie for scoring only 19 KO's but he was one of the strongest lt. heavys ever and very quick attacking from unusual angles. Greb was great, bringing up a few losses when a guy fights 299 times is kind of of a low blow. Both had chins made of granite. Rosenbloom stopped twice, both (Milligan, Adamick) under mysterious circumstances. It has been rumored that Rosenbloom gave his pal Doc Kearns (Adamick's manager) a present. Greb was KO'd once early in his career by Joe Chip. enough said...c.h.

[klompton]

Not to say he wasn't a very good fighter. But some of the talk about him gets ridiculas.

In nearly 300 known fights, he only knocked out 48. Not so much an issue for a defensive wizzard, but he wasn't that, he was the Pittsburgh Windmill, an aggressive and dirty fighter.

He also did have some losses to guys that someone people like he was the greatest ever really shouldn't have.

Kid Graves
Joe Borrell
Soldier Bartfield

And that's ignoring his early losses against Fay Keiser, Joe Chip, and Hooks Evans

Also he injured his arms a lot. I guess it was his rough style.

Kid Graves was a title claimant at WW at the time he fought Greb. Greb broke his arm during the fight and had to retire. No shame there.
Joe Borrell was one of the best MWs in the world at the time.
Soldier Bartfield defeated all time great fighters like Jack Britton, Ted Kid Lewis, and Mike Gibbons. He was one of the toughest contenders of the era in two divisions. Greb won their series.
Greb won his series with Fay Kaiser who was also a decent, not great fighter and only suffered losses to him pre prime. His loss to Joe Chip came when he was very green. Chip was the chief sparring partner of the MW champion at the time and outweighed Greb by 10 pounds. Hooks Evans was also a good local fighter in Pittsburgh and a terrific athlete. Its no shame to have an early loss to him.

Oh and for the record Greb was known as a defensive wizard. Just because you are aggressive and throw a lot of punches doesnt mean you cant be hard to hit.

[BoxBuzz]

If you are interested in the subject, Klomptons labor of love is a jewel.

You just have to understand that it's a bit myopic, (which is not necessarily a knock when it comes to a biography).....however it's my opinion that it's written by a true believer.

Though he did seem to attempt to utilize journalistic best practices for the most part and occasionally showed some signs of curbing his enthusiastic faith in his subject matter..




REGARDLESS of my humble opinion on the authors predisposed outlook......Klomptons book IS worthy of purchasing and reading, period, the end.

[gilgamesh]

If you are interested in the subject, Klomptons labor of love is a jewel.

You just have to understand that it's a bit myopic, (which is not necessarily a knock when it comes to a biography).....however it's my opinion that it's written by a true believer.

Though he did seem to attempt to utilize journalistic best practices for the most part and occasionally showed some signs of curbing his enthusiastic faith in his subject matter..




REGARDLESS of my humble opinion on the authors predisposed outlook......Klomptons book IS worthy of purchasing and reading, period, the end.

Incidentally, just in case there were a few of you on here that were missing when Klompton was on here plugging his book, I believe the author you'd be looking for is Stephen Compton.

There are only a few Harry Greb books on the market (that I'm aware of anyway) so it won't be hard to track down. For those interested.

[Tomasino]

Klomptons books one of the best boxing books I've read. Definitely the most in depth and researched. The amount of info in the book is incredible. I wish there were books like this on Ezzard Charles, Joe Gans etc. An essential purchase.