Does Harry Greb have a case for being the most dominat sportsman in history?

I'm chasing a man I don't know who is claiming to have SEEN footage of Greb-Walker with a friend back in 1978. He says he is looking for it as well.

 

It at least gives us an indication of how he thought.

Grebs is even more indecipherable though as so many referred to his style as one that had never been replicated.

The closest anyone has come to is 'Orthodox Calzaghe'

In 'The Fearless Harry Greb' it says Tunney 1 and Walker were filmed: I'd gladly swap any fighters career footage for H/L's if those fights, nevermind Grebs career set.

 

that would so far beyond awesome i can't find the words. 5 rounds walker's power telling the tale, rest of the fight greb batters and bloodies him. two of if not the two toughest fighters of all time going at it full tilt

 

as i said earlier, there is no other fight in history that i would rather see that is so far unreleased.

btw: calzaghe and greb should never be in the same book, never mind same sentence

 

Absolutely, but if I had to name a recent fighter who was similar to Greb stylisticaly, then this would be the answer.

Perhaps less of the orthodox.

 

to be honest you're right. stylisticaly, from what i read (janitor, you obviously will know more) it's part calzaghe, part zivic, and a good junk armstrong

 

Pretty much.

 

I of course was referring to Greb not being a southpaw.

For anyone who hasn't read 'The Fearless Harry Greb' I heartily recommend it for anyone who contemplates P4P lists, h2h matchups or 'all time' lists, or even those that already recognise Grebs insane accomplishments.

The detailing of the way he operated makes the lack of footage even more painful (and I mean painful, I feel pain in my head whenever I lament over the lack of existing celluloid of Greb') and I fear I will go to my grave having never seen 'The Perpetual Motion Machine' in action.

And as monikors go, Greb also had some impressive examples there too. Is there amy part of his resume that wasn't stacked

 

I imagine him as Armstrong leaping into shots like Tyson, but have a hard time imagining his defensive movements?

Did he just use his quick feet and angles to slip in and out of range? There is an account of a car journey where a terrified passenger says Greb missed things in the road like he did in the ring with a slip at the last moment, or something like that, which suggests some deft head movement as well.

I feel he would just be in and out of range when boxing, peppering with shots and obviously mauling (later on his career) on the inside as well as firing shots all over his opponent.

Dempsey said it was like being in a glove factory and having the shelves fall down on you Other opponents have said fighting Greb was like fighting a gloved octopus.

Just more things that not only point to a fighter worthy of the mystique surrounding him, but with a style that was so formidable it was dominant against any style of men over a wide scope of size.

But again, leads to more disappointment over lack of film

I saw a bit on a sweetscience article where a guy says he saw it back in the day, I assume that's who you mean Stoney? I'd love to hear his recollection of the footage, and even better if he could mimic it

Another thought; In The Training Film, how much does the short frantic burst of shadow boxing point to his style? It seems a pretty good indication, if not of how he implemented it against an opponent (although I asume with his iron chin and gigantic balls he probably went about it in much the same way with seemingly little regard for taking punishment back, despite his alleged defence)

 

haha great post

for greb the ONLY complaint/weakness i've heard levied against him was his lack of power. while this may be true to some small extent, much like sam langford the circumstances and era in which he fought must be taken into consideration. he fought everyone, big and small, and for a long time (as mcgrain pointed out) fought elite after elite. his KO record is relatively low but his style was not that of a banger, he fought the best of the era and you ain't always gonna knock them all out, he fought comparitively much bigger men like tunney. even the power argument falls to a large degree under scrutiny.

**** i think i just finally talked myself into putting him back into my top 5

 

I don't see how he can, there are individuals in other sports who are ultra-dominant e.g. Don Bradman in cricket is about 4.5 standard deviations above the average batsman (Jordan is 3.5 sds above the average basketball player for points) and his batting average was 60% higher than the number 2 rated batsman of all time. That's equivalent to the top baseball player averaging .570 or the top basketball player scoring 48 points per game.

Basically, if Bradman had his average cut by 50% he would still have been scoring at a world class batting average.

 

the reason why I believe he really is as unbelievable as he sounds IS because of the record.

There was indeed something freak going on. Say, a high-paced swarmed with the defensive capabilities of Sweet Pea

Indeed. I think it must be true. Like Chang later on, Greb had a style that 'went through styles', albeit at the highest level possible and at weights with much distance between them.

Greb COULD whack. Against Wilson he made a point of sitting down on his punches and knocked out his warm up upponent beforehand.

Think he had an early stoppage against Levinsky and stopped a genuine 200lb heavy in the first round (who's name and standing escape
me at time, but he was a bug lump nonetheless) and when you consider some of the chins he faced/size of opponent his lack of power doesn't seem so enhanced.

But I agree that he wasn't a massive hitter. He gave sustained beatings to a lot of men and didn't stop them.

Does the following make sense: I think of him as having comparable power to Kid Gavilan? Dya guys know what I mean? I obviously don't believe he hit ony as hard as a Welter, I mean that's the kinda hitter he was (again not in technique but....I'm stoned, you guys are switched on I'm sure you'll get the gist of what I'm saying)