Tiger Flowers one of the most underrated fighters in history

He wasnt being thrown in with light heavies, he WAS a light heavy. He fought much of his early career at LHW. Ive heard this excuse for him a million times particularly in regards to his fight with Jack Delaney and people always forget, or never know, that Flowers actually outweighed Delaney when they fought and that Delaney was fighting as a MW during that time while Flowers had been fighting as a LHW.

 

Greb went in for an operation on his nose to aid his breathing ,Klompton is the expert on Greb ,I beleive he will confirm this.
Flowers is overated imo, he beat a diminished Greb.

 

What has always impressed me about Flowers is the way that his losses key seem to be either knockout losses or controvertial decisions.

It seems to me that he was a verry hard fighter to outpoint.

 

Greb was still an excellent fighter but he was definately faded and fading fast. He was also having serious troubles making weight and was considering a move up to LHW. Flowers' win over Greb is impressive but Greb was probably there for the taking or headed that way. I personally feel a prime Greb from around 1919 against a prime Flowers is a win for Greb. Greb's problem, as crazy as it sounds, is that he always took Flowers kind of light. He had a lot of respect for him but he was always thinking that he could knock Flowers out. With Greb's style, poor vision, and brittle hands he didnt rack up many knockouts so he made a major mistake but for whatever reason he felt like he could blow Flowers out. I think that and his age was a major contributing factor to his losses to Flowers. That being said, if you werent a big puncher (because I do believe Flowers had a weak chin, he was not only stopped several times but he was down in a lot of other fights) Flowers was a handful because he was a very busy fighter, very strong, and very fast. He was often considered a left handed, less rugged, bigger version of Greb and for a time they were considered the two fastest fighters in the world.

 

Very impressive what he was able to do to Mickey Walker while past his peak and Walker arguably in his prime.

 

I beleive Greb had serious problems making weight for Walker ,and had to pace himself carefully over the first half of the fight ,he did not really gain control of the fight till after the halfway mark.
I am prepared to be corrected by KLompton,but I think the word "dominated" is a little strong.

 

He pretty much dominated Walker. For a while after the fight Walker had a rough patch in his career and many people were writing him off as having been ruined by Greb.

 

I have never underrated Mr. Flowers and have felt, based on what I've read about him, that he's an all-time great.

 

Lets toss a cup of gas on this fire

When Joe Humphreys anuounced Flowers as the winner-the
judges, but not the referee, voting for him-the fans stormed the ring,
littering it with bottles, hats, paper and everything they could find
to throw, in protest. Jim Crowley, the referee, walked over to Greb.
"Tough, Harry," he said.- "A tough one to lose. It was your fight."
Tunney said, "Harry won by a substantial margin. It was an un-
jutistified decision."
William Muldoon said Greb had won, adding, "but the decision will
stand. If we (the New York Athletic Commission) reversed it, the
Negro people might think they were being discriminated against."
Before Greb entered the ring he had said that, no matter what the
outcome, this was his last fight.
----taken from "Give Him to the Angels" written by James Fair

Greb's own opinion

Greb’s last fight was in 1926. It was an attempt to regain the middleweight crown he lost to Tiger Flowers. The determined ex-champion turned the clock back and fought well but lost another split decision to Flowers. Most believed that the victory was rightfully his; that he had done more than enough to take back the title. Greb himself said “well, that was one fight I won if I ever won any.”

The 1924 non title bout was not close...
HARRY GREB USES WHIRLWIND ATTACK TO CAPTURE EIGHT OF TEN ROUNDS

Fremont, Ohio, Aug 21.- Harry Greb, champion middleweight of the world, Thursday night retained his title, getting the newspaper decision in a ten-round no-decision bout here with Tiger Flowers of Atlanta. Greb easily outpointed his negro opponent in eight of the ten rounds.
Greb staged one of his characteristic slam-bang fights, doing practically all of the leading and forcing the battle at practically all stages. He landed his blows from any and all angles.
In the first round Flowers' southpaw boxing seemed to puzzle the champion, but after that he gauged this style correctly and was the leader in all but two rounds.
Greb drew blood from his opponent early in the contest. His hitting was cleaner and harder than Flowers' throughout the bout.

 

That seems fair ,no doubt Greb was still a force, though possibly not quite what he had been,still good wins for Flowers,I just don't rate him as highly as most,probably my blind spot.

 

I'll tell ya right now this is the Associated Press wire service account of this fight.

There's like 20 different ringside accounts of this fight with opinions varying widely!

 

Slakka is absolutely right. I NEVER trust AP reports. Actual ringside accounts vary widely some stating Greb won hands down and others stating Flowers won hands down. Walk Miller used this fight to catapult Flowers into the big time.

 

Wasn't he known as" Sqawk Miller" for loudly protesting any decision that went against Flowers?