Though his birth name was Saverio Giannone, he was known mainly by his alias of the "Iron Man", and there has been nobody in boxing history whose ring name suited them best, though there have been many men and women who have lived up to their monikers.
He was no more than a middleweight, but he took on men weighing as much as 200 pounds, and many of them were the absoloute best the world of boxing could produce. Here's this list of the Hall of Fame's elite that Grimm fought in a career of 113 fights:
Jack Johnson [many historians up until the 1960's considered this man to be the greatest heavyweight champion of all time, including publisher of RING magazine Nat Fliescher and such greats as Jack Dempsey]
Bob Fitzsimmons [he was boxing's first triple crown champion, being the middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight champion of the world all the while being no more than 167 pounds; he was known as a tremendous body puncher and had the power to knock out 'super heavyweights']
Joe Gans [most remember him best for his war with Battling Nelson that went 42 of a scheduled 45 rounds, but this man was truly one of the greatest fighters that ever lived, considered by many to be a top 10 lightweight champion of all time]
Philadelphia Jack O'Brien [this man contended for the Heavyweight title during the reign of both Tommy Burns and Jack Johnson, but he is mainly remembered for his tremendous career as a Light Heavyweight, and still to this day is considered one of the ATG p4p fighters that ever lived]
Then throw in such names as Peter Maher who claimed the Heavyweight title during the reign of Gentleman Jim Corbett, Battling Levinsky, Luther McCarty, Sam McVea, Johnny Kilbane, Jack Blackburn, Joe Walcott and even the Dixie Kid.
Of all those great names, only five times in 113 fights was he ever knocked out, two of those times came when he was on the 'downside' and getting older, already having fought over 100 bouts, and one came early on when he was first starting out.
Imagine if you will, a time when all it took was someone having at least one special ability, and you could go anywhere in the world with it. While Joe Grimm lacked skill, lacked poise, grace, let alone power, having no ta single drop of actual talent...he did have determination, heart, and without a doubt the hardest head in boxing history.
When he fought Jack Johnson in 1905, the fight was scheduled for six and it went the entire six rounds, though Grimm had hit the canvas more than a dozen times. Before his encounter with Jack Johnson, he had done faced Bob Fitzsimmons, who also failed to knock him out, as did Maher and Blackburn, who might very well have been the greatest fighter of his time.
It mattered little if Grimm was to ever win or not, what mattered what was on the line. His management and himself fully realized that he was almost impossible to knock out, and he promoted that to the fullest. Purses and bets were put up, challenges issued, to anyone who could knock out Grimm.
Only one of the HOF fighters mentioned on the list above, was ever able to do it, and that was Sam McVea, who still to this day is considered one of the hardest hitting men that ever lived, quite possibly behind Foreman and Shavers, and it still took McVea 12 rounds to do so.
With his record of 6 wins, 91 losses, and 9 draws with seven no contests [he was also rumored to have 134 bouts, sometimes exaggerated to as much as 300 bouts], he pretty much shows that he was nothing extraordinary; but take into account of this, imagine if today if some middleweight went against the biggest punchers, the most skilled boxers, from lightweight to heavyweight and only lost on a TKO or KO only five times had they fought over 100 times.
Impossible? Joe Grimm was all about making the improbable plausible.
Rufus "Homicide Henry" Defibaugh
Joe Grimm, The Toughest Man of All Time
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HomicideHenry
- Heavyweight
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elmersalsa
- Heavyweight
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Collins2000
- Heavyweight
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Better put your favorite fighter Muhammad Ali on the list, kid.elmersalsa wrote:How about Angel Robinson Garcia and Fritzie Zivic? they fought almost everybody.
Let's fing the fighter that fought more quality opponents than anyone else, shall we?
We got 3 already...ANYONE ELSE? This woul be very interesting.
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elmersalsa
- Heavyweight
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Even at that, I do not think that Ali fought more world class fighters than Angel Robinson Garcia, my man.Collins2000 wrote:Better put your favorite fighter Muhammad Ali on the list, kid.elmersalsa wrote:How about Angel Robinson Garcia and Fritzie Zivic? they fought almost everybody.
Let's fing the fighter that fought more quality opponents than anyone else, shall we?
We got 3 already...ANYONE ELSE? This woul be very interesting.
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dempseyfire
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 5534
- Joined: 29 Oct 2003, 22:56
Grimm to me rides the fine line between tough and almost a little coo-coo for cocoa puffs. He seemed to delight in taking punishment from much bigger men and then boastfully declare "I am Joe Grimm, I fear no man!"
He probably had a unique ability to withstand punishment due to some physical abnormality.
He probably had a unique ability to withstand punishment due to some physical abnormality.
