I believe there is a point in physical contact sports where quantity supercedes quality,and this is probably it. Willard by mauling dec.
Uncharted territory for Greb but he may well do it. McMahon who was 175lbs beat prime Willard, 180lb Gunboat Smith beat him pre prime, 190lb Rodel beat him. In 1919 my money is on Greb over the 10-12round distance, longer distances obviously suit Willard
I think Greb can outmaneuver and outwork Willard for most of the fight. If it´s over 10 I´d pick Greb, everything else I think Willard´s size, stamina, strength and power is just too much.
It would have been interesting. Willard might have been the easiest of the giants (Fulton, Wills) for Greb to beat. He didnt have an overly physical style, was pretty slow, and didnt have a high work rate. If Greb could deal with enormous size differences he might outwork Willard. Willard himself had an incredible amount of respect for Greb. As early as 1917 he was touting Greb as a future champion. In Toledo in 1919 he tried to hire Greb as a sparring partner but Greb wanted to challenge the winner of Willard-Dempsey (and was making more money fighting than as a sparring partner) so he declined. In 1923 Willard picked Greb as the man with the best chance to beat Dempsey. He loved Greb's style and said that a lot of the criticism he got in New York was unjust.
Does this mean a fight between the two in their primes? Or a very old Willard against a prime Greb as it would have been in reality? I'd probably take Greb to get the better of an aging Willard in a 10 round bout. Any further and the size difference becomes an overwhelming factor.
I will say this, hope it upsets noboby. Greb could never ever hurt Willard, a fighter with less than a 20% KO record is simply going to be an egg hitting an anvil..... Dempsey had the power to hurt big Jess. I think Greb gets seriousl damage to his health on this one.... he tries to fight on the inside and Willards uppercuts decapitate Harry....... Let's match Harry against MW's..... what's next...... Benny Lynch Vs Mickey Walker ?????
What do the New Yorker people say about Greb. ??...... was that kind of enemy territory for Harry was it ??...... the US cities seem to have a very big rivalry... I'd be interested to hear anomalies like this.
Considering Harry pasted heavyweights on many occasions I don't think it's absurd to suggest that he would give Willard all he could (or couldn't) handle. Big Bill Brennan didn't have much success landing decapitating uppercuts against Greb in all of their bouts(in fact he won nary a round). So why would Willard? Was Brennan leagues below Willard in skill and power?
Like I said, I hope I don't upset anybody,.... in a match like this I think power is a must for the small guy...... This fight is like Ricardo Lopez vs Thomas Hearns.