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Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 05 Oct 2013, 23:40
by klompton
Il Duce wrote:I guess it can be said, that Harry Greb 'liked a good scrap'.
I appears that Harry Greb's 20-Round bout with Fay W. Keiser on January 29, 1917
took a lot out of him.
12-Days later {February 10, 1917} Harry Greb was handily beaten by Mike Gibbons
in 6-Rounder at the National A.C in Philadelphia.
According to 'Middleweight' Mike Gibbon's, Greb foolishly took this bout on 'one-weeks'
notice, after having gone 20-Rounds with Fay W. Keiser a few days earlier.
Harry Greb had not fully recovered from the Keiser bout, and was sick in bed for a
few days.
But since the bout was a 6-Rounder, Greb took the bout on short-notice, figuring he
could out-speed Mike Gibbons in a short fast-paced 6-Round fight.
Youve misinterpreted this entire situation.
The fight with Keiser took nothing out of Greb. He left the ring without a mark. He was in his sick bed because he developed tonsilitis which he was ill with when Red Mason signed for him to face Mike Gibbons on short notice. Greb took the fight because it was the chance of a lifetime. Greb had made rapid progress in the previous couple of months toward gaining a national reputation. Mike Gibbons was considered the best fighter in the world. If Greb could show well against him he could expect a lot of offers and demand more money for them. The opportunity was so good that Greb and Mason delayed their fight with Kayo Brennan in order to take the Gibbons match (saying that Greb needed more time to train and neglecting to tell Buffalo promoters the real reason for the delay). Gibbons was simply the better man in February 1917 and showed it.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 06 Oct 2013, 01:44
by Giancarlo
Il Duce wrote:I'm no expert on Harry Greb
Or anything else for that matter.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 10 Nov 2013, 13:20
by Chuck1052
My copy of Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb, by Steve Compton has arrived in the mail. While I haven't read at this time, I will say that the book is absolutely massive and can tell that Compton put in a tremendous amount of effort in terms of research and putting out the book. I truly believe that Compton has raised the bar with this biography.
- Chuck Johnston
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 10 Nov 2013, 13:24
by klompton
Thank you for the kind words Chuck. I hope you enjoy the book and look forward to your thoughts when you have finished.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 10 Nov 2013, 13:51
by palooka
I've just ordered your book from Amazon; I've enjoyed reading this thread, some very learned people on here, well done (nearly) all
![[icon_notworthy.gif] :bow:](./images/smilies/icon_notworthy.gif)
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 10 Nov 2013, 15:11
by klompton
That was an exhibition, not a real bout.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 10 Nov 2013, 17:41
by klompton
boxrec is wrong. its an exhibition bout.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 10 Nov 2013, 19:06
by klompton
You can post all you want its not going to change the fact that it was an exhibition bout. The rounds were only two minutes long and the contestants wore large exhibition "pillows".
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 10 Nov 2013, 20:54
by klompton
the papers also said greb beat oscar anderson and kid lewis. they also said kingfish levinsky beat dempsey. doesnt change the fact that all of those bouts were exhibitions.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 10 Nov 2013, 21:35
by BoxBuzz
On behalf of Boxrec
I would like to take this moment to remind all our respected guests and contributors of our popular and handy "ignore" option. You are welcome to PM me if you need any technical information on the usage of this remarkably convenient and time saving feature.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 11 Nov 2013, 07:11
by fatcity69
BoxBuzz wrote:On behalf of Boxrec
I would like to take this moment to remind all our respected guests and contributors of our popular and handy "ignore" option. You are welcome to PM me if you need any technical information on the usage of this remarkably convenient and time saving feature.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
I feel you are being ignored Buzz???...

Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 11 Nov 2013, 07:12
by fatcity69
Il Duce wrote:BoxBuzz wrote:On behalf of Boxrec
I would like to take this moment to remind all our respected guests and contributors of our popular and handy "ignore" option. You are welcome to PM me if you need any technical information on the usage of this remarkably convenient and time saving feature.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
Yes, I would like to know how to use that
'Option'
I have a couple of Clowns that attach themselves to my threads........like leeches.
Since when was this your thread???... lol!
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 11 Nov 2013, 11:21
by palooka
I can't see the point of using an ignore button - the people I like to hear the less from are prob the people I ought to listen to more.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 03 Dec 2013, 12:42
by klompton
Hi Guys,
I just wanted to announce that now through January 2nd I am offering signed copies of my book for $35 and free shipping within the United States. Its a great deal compared to places like Amazon. If you are interested email me at
[email protected]
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 23 Jan 2014, 00:55
by klompton
Hey thanks for bumping my thread cut n paste ;)
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 23 Jan 2014, 09:20
by fatcity69
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 23 Jan 2014, 10:35
by klompton
Thanks Fatcity! That really means a lot to me. More than you know. Im glad you are enjoying it.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 23 Jan 2014, 16:56
by cfang
Hi Klompton,
Been a huge boxing fan since I was a kid and I've always liked reading about it as much as watching it. Just wanted to pop on and say that I ordered your book after reading this thread and I got it just before Christmas and it was like all my xmases coming at once. Really detailed and well researched info about all Greb's fights and so many rare photos as opposed to the usual ones you see in 100 other books.
I really enjoyed it and just wanted to say thanks. Greb is IMHO up there with Langford and SRR as the 3 best p4p of all time and I'm just pleased there's a book that really does him justice. I loved reading it.
Many regards
CFANG
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 23 Jan 2014, 22:05
by SaadOffTheDeck
Kick his ass Il Duce!
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 24 Jan 2014, 07:17
by Tomasino
Il Duce wrote:Thanks, Saad.......
Thursday - August 21, 1924
Freeport, Ohio
12,000 are expected to attend Tonight's bout between Harry Greb and Tiger Flowers, in the biggest bout ever
held here, at Legion Stadium.
The Middleweight Champion - Harry Greb seemed very concerned about his opponent, the highly-skilled Tiger Flowers
from Atlanta, Georgia. The Champion, just shy of {Age; 30} is 18-Months younger than his opponent, but does have
more experience in Major Bouts.
The Pittsburg Windmill brings in a record of 74-6-2 {39 KO's}, but has suffered a few losses over the last 2-years, as
well as looking shopworn in several other bouts.
Surprisingly, it is the 31 1/2 year-old Southern Challenger and his Manager - Walk Miller who have brimmed with
confidence, stating that Harry Greb has seen better days.
Greb had seen better days, after 300 bouts and blind in one eye? Very insightful, I think they may have been on to something....
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 24 Jan 2014, 13:11
by misterpunch
I bought the book - excellent
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 24 Jan 2014, 13:17
by orbtastic
I bought it but haven't finished it yet.
One minor criticism - The windmill on each page, I found it really annoying after a few pages.
There's a ton of photos in the book too but some of them look like they've been photocopied several times and it might have been good to have them together in sections but I guess that's a minor, minor quibble.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 24 Jan 2014, 13:56
by klompton
orbtastic wrote:I bought it but haven't finished it yet.
One minor criticism - The windmill on each page, I found it really annoying after a few pages.
There's a ton of photos in the book too but some of them look like they've been photocopied several times and it might have been good to have them together in sections but I guess that's a minor, minor quibble.
The photos you refer to are likely newspaper photos that no longer exist in pristine quality. For some reason a handful of these looked worse in the book than the actual quality I have but they will never look perfect. The vast majority turned out as good as they would have anywhere else short of printing the entire book on photo paper.
Sorry you were bothered by the watermark.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 24 Jan 2014, 14:32
by orbtastic
klompton wrote:orbtastic wrote:I bought it but haven't finished it yet.
One minor criticism - The windmill on each page, I found it really annoying after a few pages.
There's a ton of photos in the book too but some of them look like they've been photocopied several times and it might have been good to have them together in sections but I guess that's a minor, minor quibble.
The photos you refer to are likely newspaper photos that no longer exist in pristine quality. For some reason a handful of these looked worse in the book than the actual quality I have but they will never look perfect. The vast majority turned out as good as they would have anywhere else short of printing the entire book on photo paper.
Sorry you were bothered by the watermark.
I sense you're being a little sarcastic.
Both are valid criticisms and I said they were minor, however I've 100s of boxing books, probably nearing five hundred and this is the only book that has a watermark and photos like that. I'd imagine that's why the majority of them tend to have photos together in sections, on photo paper...
I understand you probably had restrictions with money and getting the whole thing off the ground but I've plenty of other private or self pressings of boxing biographies that aren't like this.
Re: Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb
Posted: 24 Jan 2014, 14:34
by palooka
It was a labour of love for sure and will be worth a fortune in 10 years.