Anyone here read "Live Fast, Die Young the Life and Times of Harry Greb"?

My , my.... Certainly is woke in these parts.

Congratulations to the various folks who picked out one word from a 500 page book as the shining lamp from which to project their virtue.

You are true heroes.

 

Mcgrain was a mistake and I apologise to both you guys.

Yeah I write the in-depth breakdowns you see one here every now and again. It is always a concern of mine when I write. The other week I got called a Hopkins fanboy on that other website, and I thought about it and yeah, I'ma Hopkins fanboy. But some people and fighters have earned their fanboys. Especially to somebody so deeply involved that they wrote the book on the guy. Unbiased opinion is impossible beyond a set of numbers. You want unbiased, go read a wikipedia article. You don't come to a boxing writer and expect them to write 1000 unbiased pages much less words about a fighter if they feel strongly about them.

 

That's fair. I'm not accusing you by any means, just making a macro assumption based on fifteen years seeing the author's considerable knowledge overshadowed by his personality. I haven't read it in years. I did like it a lot at the time and appreciated the mammoth effort he put in. That being said bias is possible when one is so close to a subject so long.

 

Without more contextual evidence, it seems more clueless than racist, tbh.

 

Not that that was my intention. I was rather drawing attention to the use of the word Negro in UNCF.

However, I do especially love the above logic. By it, I assume the truly woke would have no friends of color.

 

What an absolute asinine thread. Negro is not a racist term. In fact for the majority of my life it was the accepted politically correct term to apply. If you want to get your panties in a twist that I used it then by all means feel free but don't call me a racist because you have sensitivity issues. If you had actually read my book you would notice that Clarence Jackson, the man involved in the shooting incident you describe here as a racist altercation, had a long criminal history from 1915 to 1961 which included convictions for assault, robbery, sodomy, and possession of narcotics. I presented the facts exactly as they were reported at the time and left nothing out. I also presented Jackon's version of events which was refuted by several witnesses for the state. I also cited every single source that covered the incident and if our overly sensitive friend here cares to further his knowledge on the subject he is more than welcome to follow the breadcrumbs and do his own research to reach his own conclusions. So don't sit there and lie your ass off in order to present me as a ****ing racist.


Furthermore, don't paint my book as something its not. For instance, when exactly did I paint Tommy Burke as a world beater? In fact if you look at his picture on page 127 you will see in the caption that I define him word for word a St. Louis clubfighter. Period. I make no claim to him being great at any time in my book. George Chip was a middleweight champion while men like Joe Borrell, Gus Christie, and Bob Moha were extremely tough and dangerous contenders of their day. Indeed Moha was even a title claimant at one point although not widely accepted.


Furthermore, and finally, Greb was not a racist. In fact he publicly supported Harry Wills' challenge of Jack Dempsey, helped black sparring partner Kid Crutchfield get a job with the city of Pittsburgh, and happily defended his title against Tiger Flowers when he could have easily drawn the color line as an example set by MANY other white fighters. In interviews with his surviving family members at the time they talked specifically about how they were raised not to be racist and to see everyone equally. There was only one instance in his entire career that anyone could misconstrue as racism and that was his refusal to fight Panama Joe Gans in late 1919 when Gans was brought into the ring as a last minute substitute. Greb uncharacteristically drew the color line but in actuality, after the Red Summer of 1919 which witnessed some of the most violent racial confrontations in the nations history he promised his wife that he would not partake in mixed race matches. But as soon as tensions quieted down he was back to fighting and training with black fighters. His manager had fliers and handbills printed out stating specifically that unlike other white fighters Greb had no intention of drawing the color line that race meant nothing to Greb which he proved in the ring by fighting the best black middleweight of the era (and a southpaw to boot) three times.

 

Its pretty funny to call me a racist when you can quickly and easily search the threads on here and see my numerous defenses of Harry Wills career, record, and challenge of Dempsey and the fact that Im in the process of writing a book on the subject. Im also currently working on two in depth articles on the careers of Jeff Merritt and Gypsy Joe Harris. I spent a year restoring the film of Joe Gans crowning moment of defeating Battling Nelson. My book itself, called racist here, lauds men like Kid Norfolk and Tiger Flowers among others. Care to completely misinterpret any more of my book DagoWop? Maybe reading comprehension isn't your strong suit.

 

I wasn’t going to bring it up but are people forgetting the comments mr dago wop made to get banned last month? Can’t believe he would call out someone else to question their character. Pot calling the kettle black

 

I'm utterly disgusted that this site allows this idiot to use his name. It's derogatory towards italian americans and if you didnt know that you know it now. No it's not "racist" because Italians are not a race but I ASSURE you that in my day back in the Bronx if this person used that term in the wrong neighborhood he would have been in a fight.

How about if I change me name to Mr **** Jew or Mr Slant Eyes? I bet I'd get banned and rightly so.

 

Yeah I don’t wanna get into with him but I agree with you

 

You have also championed Kid Norfolk's cause on several occasions.

 

This is the same person who criticized me for referring to Bob Foster's style as like that of a Praying Mantis,something that not only several boxing writers did, but his own manager Lou Viscusi did on numerous occasions ! You couldn't make it up!

"Funny how you say in that other thread that you aren't disrespectful enough to call a prizefighter a bum yet you are fully comfortable calling one of the greatest light heavies ever a "string bean praying mantis".

Mr.DagoWop, Jan 23, 2018 Report

 

I like your posts fella!