Harry Greb vs Jack Dempsey

No seriously, there are a lot more threads on Greb and posts where he is made out to be so good no one could ever beat him..... this whole forum should be re-named the Harry Greb memorial Forum and be done with it............ Having said that I rate Greb as one of the greatest but I cannot imagine how he beats the giants, a Dempsey beat a Firpo because he could knock him out but if he didn't I think Dempsey was gonna be laid out flat for the count. I said physics meaning there is a limit to anything and everything. Dempsey had a sparring session with Greb,, nothing remotely like a real fight yet here it gets so much creedence yet if I came up with sparring sessions as some kind of proof for any other fighter ever I'd be laughed out of the place. Now if you still think I have lost the plot I will start a thread called Greb vs Ali and we shall see, some will actually try to argue Greb could win.

 

If Greb and Firpo fought, no doubt Dempsey chooses the loser, as he did every time Greb fought a HW opponent.

 

I always thought you were a big Dempsey fan mate.

 

Firpo was all of 6-2/216 when he fought Dempsey, in other words, a small modern heavyweight. He was just smidge bigger, and far less skilled, than the Bill Brennan Greb beat 5 TIMES.

 

Love watching the guy fight.

Feel in modern times he'd be a 220 pound beast who's a handful for anyone.

Favour him to win a wide points decision over Greb.

But his ducking of Greb is ridiculous.

 

So, would Willard be 340?

 

I did think he was taller than that but who the hell cares he almost knocked Dempsey out and was freaking strong with a sledgehammer for a hand and who the hell is Brennan ? hardly a household name... but have it your way Seamus.... Greb can beat elephants to death and out wrassle bengal tigers and eat their livers while they still breathe.

Why is it that is anyone has a favourite fighter not called Greb they are a nuthugger yet a Greb fan cannot be that ?

 

Ridiculous ? hell if he took the fight with Greb THAT would be ridiculous, what on earth has he got to gain ? nothing only ridicule no matter what the result....... Imagine Joe Louis fighting Zale ? they would have refused to sanction the fight... or Liston fight Basilio ? same... why does Greb get to fight for a heavyweight title ? I just don't see it as ducking.... it wasn't 1897 when that sort of thing was usual. I can truly imagine Dempsey saying... "if you want me to fight a middleweight and risk ridicule for not picking on someone my own sixe pay me tem million bucks or **** off."

 

See, now there's an argument that makes sense. You're evaluating a Greb / Firpo matchup and explaining WHY you think Dempsey could beat Firpo (hell of a punch) and Greb not. That's a fair claim.

You should make more posts like that instead of getting emotional and hyperbolic :good

 

Articles mean nothing. You can find anything you want to find no matter the point you are trying to make. I can pull "articles" that seem to show Ali avoided a second bout with Foreman. Living through the era it's a load of dog **** but yet you can find articles and then paint a scenario.....a false scenario however.

Once again AFTER he beat Gibbons what other hwt did he beat in his all out pursuit of a title shot with Dempsey. That's A long long time to just sit back and fight at a lower weight division thinking somehow a hwt championship title shot will come?

The day of his bout with Gibbons a poll was published asking the boxing public who Dempsey should fight. Grebs name was not mentioned.

The idea that the public was clamoring for years for a 165 pound 5'8" middleweight to fight a 190 pound hwt champion is hogwash. Anyone who Believes Dempsey whose punching power frightened former hwt champion Jack Sharkey was afraid in any way of fighting Greb has allot to learn. Fight would not go two rounds.

 

That's called business, it really would have made no sense in Firpo fighting Greb. I agree that Greb would have slapped Firpo around and probably gotten the decision. But would it have been a good fight? Maybe the promoters of that time saw that while Greb was beating these slow heavyweights with his pitty-pat punches, bouncing around, here there and everywhere throwing arm punches, style, he wouldn't have made a good heavyweight champion. Greb from the articles I saw wanted a short fight. Also why didn't Greb fight the other Harry? Billy Conn was beating Joe Louis until he got caught. Dempsey was not Brennan, Gibbons, and the other heavyweights Greb fought. Dempsey was a one punch guy who had speed, and stamina. If an old, slow Dempsey caught a young prime Gene Tunney, that he wouldn't have a chance in Dempsey's own prime of catching Greb at some point. Greb, must have felt something in the sparring session with Dempsey cos he really respected Dempsey's power.

 

350

 

So contemporary articles from known wrtiers mean nothing but a keyboard warrior a century later should be keenly listened to? I guess ND should not be credited either because they are like articles, to be found in newspapers?

What heavyweight did Carpentier beat? But somehow he was trumped up as this great threat and viable contender to the crown? You think the publicity machine of Rickard & Co. might have had something to do with who the public would buy and who they would not? (By the way, what was the margin of error of your scientific poll?) And why do you think Firpo suddenly was making US newspapers well before he even beat an ancient Willard? Was that the perceptive public at work again? Did they notice greatness in how he tipped over those hopeless tomato cans in South America?

Again, and I know this takes a while to soak in, Greb beat Brennan 5 TIMES, Gibbons, Miske, Darcy and gave Tunney the beating of his career. All these guys were able to secure a fight with Dempsey during his rather disinterested title run. All but Darcy were able to get the title on the line. And still Greb did not qualify for a title shot, not even after winning an eliminator?

 

Greb beat four men who ended up challenging Dempsey for the title. Which heavyweights did Zale or Basilio beat? Greb won a billed title eliminator against Gibbons in dominant fashion and a year later Dempsey fought the loser. If they were qualified challengers, why not the guy who beat them?

 

All before 1922 aside from Gibbons which was early 1922. Yet he was not mentioned in the poll published the day of the Gibbons fight. Why if the public was clamoring for the fight? Why did Greb abandon the hwt division if he was indeed keen on getting a title fight with Dempsey? After Gibbons he fought mostly in the middleweight division. where was his pursuit of Dempsey after March 1922?? Nonexistent.

Carpentier was lt heavyweight champion and the hwt champion of Europe. In of itself credentials for a title shot.