Greb vs Calzaghe

If you want talk about *****'s get back to your self confessing meat loving ways on the choi thread sissy boy. Remember you still didn't answer my question on how you like your sausages done.:nono...second thoughts.... I don't want to know.:blood

 

Explain to me why and I just might do....

 

wow dont get off topic McGrain gets angry

 

to be fair i have stopped abit, going off topic.

 

From what Ive read on Greb, he should be favoured strongly but we have no footage & to me, no footage = no comment.

 

I believe that was the intention

 

GREB GREB GREB, different class.:good

 

Calzaghe may well have had a more sophisticated skill set, then again he may not and I can't really tell without seeing Greb fight, it would be stupid to make a guess either way. If Greb fights the way he spars he gets schooled, he may well fight allot better than that though.

Calzaghe is the bigger man, probably faster and seemingly in better condition.

Tales of Greb drinking every night and his only real training was actually fighting doesn't help my opinion that the sport was inferior in the 20s

 

It's untrue. In fact Greb was a very dedicated trainer but liked to joke around that he was in terrible shape to get people to fight him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQIx3Thz9Fc

 

There is a lot of fable in the stories about Greb's training habbits and lifestyle outside the ring.

His manager claimed after his death that he was rigorous in his training habits and never drank while in training.

I guess the legends surrounding Greb took on a life of their own after his death.

In terms of style Calzaghe is probably the fighter who most closley approximates Greb in regent years.

 

Here is n article published 20 years after Greb's death in which asociates are interviewd on his lifestyle and training habbits:

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[SIZE=+2]Harry Greb, 'Greatest Fighter,' Died in East 20 Years Ago Today[/SIZE]

[SIZE=+1]Harry's Best Battle Was Night He Whipped Gibbons, Albacker Says[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1]By LES BIEDERMAN[/SIZE]

Twenty years ago today--Oct. 22, 1926--when word came over the wires that Harry Greb had died on the operating table in an Atlantic City hospital, almost every Pittsburgher felt he had suffered a deep personal loss.

Greb belonged to the people more than any other pittsburgh fighter. Even today, no fight discussion is complete without mention of Harry Greb, "greatest fighter who ever lived," as many fans call him.

"The Pittsburgh Windmill" died long before his time. He was 32. He had gone to Atlantic City to have a simple nose operation. He breathed his last on that operation table.

It was a shocked and subdued sports world that recieved the news. It was almost unbelievable. Greb was a legend--both in and out of the ring.

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[SIZE=+1]Greb Never Drank Liquor[/SIZE]
Two of his closest friends were Bernard (Happy) Albacker, who grew up with him and was with him almost constantly, and Cuddy DeMarco, like Greb, a great fighter, and Greb's stablemate.

Albacker knew Greb inside out. "I was probably as close to greb as any person," Albacker related. "I saw him in practically all of his fights and rarely left him at any time.

"Greb never drank a drop of liquor. He would drink an occasional bottle of ale to build up his strength after trying to make weight or sometimes a glass of champagne, but never the hard stuff.

"You might have heard stories of Greb sitting in a nightclub roaring drunk. But not Harry. He would either dump his drinks under the table, spill them or pass them to others at the table. He liked to give off the impression that he was 'tight.'

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[SIZE=+1]Always in Shape for Fight[/SIZE]
"Harry always was in shape for a fight and he never cared who his opponent was. And he never failed to train religiously for a fight, either. He was in the gym every day.

"I think Greb's best fight was the night he licked Tommy Gibbons in Old Madison Square Garden. Gibbons was a 12-5 favorite that night but Harry gave him the beating of his life.

"I'd say Greb's toughest fight was with Jeff Smith in 1922. And that was the night Greb became blinded in his right eye. "Smith butted him coming out of a clinch and that was it. Greb carried the secret of his one eye to his grave, except for a few persons.

"He won the middleweight title from Johnny Wilson with one eye. He beat Mickey Walker in that big fight in New York with one eye. But Greb never fought with a glass eye.

"Greb was a sensitive fellow about his appearance. He was always carefully groomed and usually slicked down his hair with vaselline before he entired the ring. And if his opponent ever mussed up Harry's hair, he was like a wildman. He didn't care about punches or butts or thumbs, but that mussed up hair drove him nuts.

[SIZE=+1]Never Bet on Himself[/SIZE]
"Greb never bet a nickel on himself in any of his fights. He'd bet more on a handball game or a game of casino than anything else. But he did win a lot of money when Gene Tunney won the heavyweight title from Jack Dempsey.

"Greb's one ambition always was to get Dempsey into a ring, but Jack Kearns wouldn't ever allow Greb near the training camp, after his first experiance with Harry.

"His five fights with Tunney were pips. Greb always thought the first four Tunney fights were easy until the last one in Cleveland, when Tunney won.

"They both got under the shower and Greb said to tunney: 'You not only beat the hell out of me tonight but you hurt me. You can't miss as the next heavyweight champion.'

[SIZE=+1]'A Soft Touch'[/SIZE]
"Harry was always a soft touch for show people and was very good to the Catholic church. He rarely came back to Pittsburgh after a fight but that he didn't stop in to see father Bonaventure at the Immaculate Conception Church and leave a donation to the church.

"I used to be a pretty good two-fisted drinker in my time. But the day Greb died, I turned over a new leaf. I haven't had a drink for 20 years."

DeMarco spent three years--from 1923 until 1926--as Greb's stablemate and they were three years he'll never forget.
"I fought with Harry in the gym and he was just as tough as in the ring," DeMarco says in admiration.

[SIZE=+1]Never Let Up[/SIZE]
"He was really superhuman. He always wanted me to work out with him to improve his speed. He treated me like he'd treat any opponent. He never knew what it was to let up.

"Before I went with red mason, who handled both Greb and me, I had had about 150 fights and never suffered a scratch. But Greb gave me the works. He mussed up my nose and he gave me my cauliflower ear.

"In the ring Greb always set a terriffic pace. He started in the first round and in the 15th, he was still going strong. I never saw a man with so much stamina.

"I always thought his best fight was with Mickey walker in 1925 for the middleweight title.

[SIZE=+1]Sensitive About Looks[/SIZE]
"Harry was always in shape and didn't need much work in the gym.

"We used to share an apartment and I never knew Greb was blinded in one eye. When we'd go out at night, and he'd always ask me how he looked, I always said, 'Great.' I noticed he had one crossed eye but I knew how sensitive he was about his looks and kept my mouth shut."

Red Mason, who followed Greb in death and was his manager most of his career, said at the time Greb died: "The death of Harry Greb marks the passing of one of the greatest fighters since John L. Sullivan.

"He was one of the very best who ever stepped into a ring. I never knew him to make a complaint. He was ready to fight any man who ever challenged him. He never ran out of a fight and never laid down."

 

McGrain, i have heard Greb was a womaniser.