Well its criminal that only twenty odd people have purchased your book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and like I said, I think its great what you are doing. That being said, I would love to see sources for a Panama Joe Gans-Greb sparring encounter beyond Runyon, who like I said, was not there.
Finally a book on Greb that might paint a true picture. The man with more 10 round distance fights than any other was a boxing entertainer at best. 70% of his bout were fixed or agreed.. gentleman like. 30% were murderous.
It cant be true that only 20 ODD people bought Sundowners, it is a great book. Say it aint true, Kevin!
Kid Norfolk beating the daylights outta Billy Miske two times over doomed him in many ways. Just my humble opinion.
I read an article that stated Dempsey wanted Greb to train him for a fight ,and Greb asked for a price unacceptable to Jack, saying also, I want to fight you myself. Dempsey supposedly said, who would pay to see it? I would imagine most everyone. I also read that someone was sparring with Dempsey,it might have been Gains,Jack Delaney was watching, he said ,you looked good but no one gets away with that over the distance in a real fight with Jack. Greb may have be the greatest p4p ever ,but so many stories abound. I would imagine most of them are just that, stories. Maybe you will right the definitive book.:deal
The problem is that all of those stories originate decades after the fact. The only stories you will find that originate while greb was alive and written by actual witnesses all say the same thing: Greb wanted to fight Dempsey but couldnt get Dempsey in the ring with him.
Klompton, as I have posted before...I have read in old Ring Mags that Harry Greb confided to boxing writers of that time,who watched Greb outspeed Jack Dempsey in 3 sparring sessions this quote...'In a regular fight ,after 6 or 7 rounds ,Jack would kill me', unquote...I have no reason to disbelieve this statement I read a few times,from writers of my favoritefighter Harry Greb's time...For what it's worth....
Ive read those statements as well but the writers of ring magazine particularly guys like Fleisher and Daniel were not exactly long on the facts (or the truth for that matter). Everything Greb ever said to anyone during his life that was published reiterated over and over and over for nearly ten years that he not only wanted a fight with Dempsey but was more than confident of beating him. Furthermore the idea that Greb would state that he would lose to Dempsey after 6 or 7 rounds is ridiculous to my way of thinking because Greb stated many times that he wanted a long fight with Dempsey where he could use his speed, stamina, and elusiveness to outpoint Dempsey and make Dempsey tired. He was more than willing to fight Dempsey 8, 10, 12 or 15 rounds to a ND in order to show what he could do and earn an actual title shot, which was his goal. He wasnt going in there for a paycheck he was going in there for a victory. The problem with those stories is that they always intended to show Dempsey in a favorable light yet it was Dempsey and his manager who always squirmed their way out of the fight. After Greb died Dempsey and those same writers said that no promoter would match them. This was bull**** as well. At various times promoters in Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York, Jersey City, Benton Harbor, Michigan City, Johnstown, Milwaukee, Chicago, and other cities all sent offers to both Dempsey and Greb. Greb always invariably either signed a contract and gave his verbal approval and Dempsey always either ignored the offers (at times the highest of his career) or simply gave lame answers like "I dont intend to fight for the rest of the year" Yet somehow during Dempsey's reign he found a way to fight Billy Miske who had been defeated by Greb the year before, Bill Brennan who had been defeated by Greb four times within a year and half give or take, Georges Carpentier, who steadfastly refused to fight Greb to the point that he wouldnt even spar with him, Tommy Gibbons who had actually lost a heavyweight title fight elimination to Greb the year before, and eventually Gene Tunney who Greb had also defeated. Greb even offered to fight Firpo for a title shot but Rickard wasnt going to put his pet prize (brought specifically by Rickard to America for the purpose of building him up as an attraction for Dempsey to slaughter) get beat by a middleweight. Sorry if comments by Nat Fleischer and his guys dont ring true to me...
I take no backseat to no one in my admiration for the best P4P fighter in history,Harry Greb...His ability,his handicap,his career record is almost surreal...I just stated of what I have read about Greb's statement to reporters of the time..If they are factual or not, we can never know...Why Greb would admit to such a statement,doesn't make sense to me...Unless he was reconciled to the fact that Dempsey would never give him a shot for a super payday,and bravado by Greb ,was no longer needed...But Greb was absolutely FEARLESS,and admitting to the press that in a regular fight "Dempsey would kill me" goes against his grain...What guts that man had, blind in one eye, losing the sight of his other eye, he tackled anyone regardless of size...One thing I am sure of is this...His likes we will never see again...
You are assuming that Greb actually admitted that and not that it was made up by the reporter as good copy (which much of Ring magazine's historical section was).
Hey guys, what is the best book I can get about Harry Greb? Also, to Ksmith, where can I purchase your book from?
Another thought would be disinformation from the Dempsey/Kearns team as they did employ some clever press agents.
Employed being the operative word. Rickard and Kearns were never above spreading the wealth to writers who portrayed their fighters in a favorable light...