harry greb, a powerful puncher?

I'd say that he had enough power to earn the respect of the opponent. He just fought a lot of tough opponents and was content on winning over the distance.

 

Greb was a good puncher, not a dynamite one punch KO artist by any means but he had a very solid, damaging punch when he chose to sit down on his punches. What most people dont realize when they talk about Greb not being able to punch is that early in his career he broke his hands and wrists several times because of this and the fact that he fought so often he had to preserve his hands. If he had a fight one week he could not afford to break his hands because he likely had a fight the following week, or in some cases within days. So he adopted a policy of outpointing his opponents rather than trying to stop them. Another factor, which isnt mentioned often, is that Greb was not a very good finisher. When he got a guy hurt he became over eager and wild rather than taking his time and picking his shots, thus there are several cases where he had a man hurt and probably could have put him away but didnt because of his poor finishing ability.

 

The above picture is not Greb-Miske, it is Seaman Powell landing a left hook to the head of Bombadier Billy Wells during the December 1918 Tournament for the Kings Trophy held in Royal Albert Hall (which Greb participated in).

 

You're right. I just googled Greb and the picture came up. Looking at it again it's clear that neither fighter is Greb or Miske.

 

This is Greb though:

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He didn't usually stand still long enough to load up, and it wasn't typically his temperament to try knocking his opponents out. Harry specifically said before Walker that, "I don't think Mickey can knock me out, and I will not try to knock him out. I will be content to win by an indisputable decision." Greb did floor Rosenbloom in his first outing after Walker, and Maxie could take a punch.

Greb did knock out Gunboat Smith in one, and reportedly could be extremely dangerous when he did decide to sit down on his shots. He stopped old rival Fay Keiser in defense of his middleweight crown, dropping him in round 12 before the referee called a halt, and nobody had ever stopped Keiser in nearly 60 fights prior to that. Klompton offered an excellent explanation for his anemic knockout percentage, and I'll also add that many of Harry's frequent opponents were considerably larger than he was, and extremely durable customers to boot.

Miske was only stopped by Dempsey, and Brennan was only taken out by Dempsey 2X, Firpo and Miske, while Tommy Gibbons only got halted in his swan song by a primed Tunney. As all of them could hit considerably harder than Greb even if Harry did load up, it wouldn't have behooved Greb to try slugging with them toe to toe. Harry was fearless, but also very smart.

 

No Greb was not a big puncher because he never planted his feet for power...His power was his voluminous amount of blows , coming from all concievable angles...I have read many contemporary accounts saying he would start the fight in flurries and volleys, and in the 15th round, he was as fresh and strong as the first round...Amazing stamina Harry had,akin to a later Henry Armstrong, but more durable...Greb had over 120 more fights then Armstrong, and beat more Hall of Fame fighters...
Another point ...Greb at 160 lbs, was very strong for his weight..Able to maul ,much heavier fighters...He outroughed much larger men when the occasion demanded it...
What made him last 300 bouts against 15-50 pound heavier opponents was his tremendous foot speed...He was never it is said in the same spot for more than a second, and as Gene Tunney claimed, difficult to hit with a solid punch..You couldn't time him..But if he was hit by even heavyweights on the chin was able to take their heavy blows.
No matter how great a boxer you are when unending flurries of punches hit you in the face from every angle, it negates a boxers skills...
To sum Greb up-
Tremendous hand and foot speed
Very strong with great stamina
Always on the attack
moving to and froe,hard to time with a solid punch
An iron chin [aside from 1st year against a bigger experienced Joe Chip] NEVER kod...
Completely fearless with a LOVE for fighting, and WILY too.
Never gave you the ball...
I hope I shed some light on Harry Greb...b.b.

 

According to Regis Welsh, Pittsburgh Post, who is the foremost Harry Greb authority IMHO, late in his career, coming down off the legs that were no longer so bouncy and rubbery, he developed a left hook from hell. This corresponds with 2 late career Greb opponents' Rosenbloom and Walker who maintained Harry being one of the hardest hitters they ever fought.

 

Harry Greb threw so many shots that he didn't really plant his feet to get the necessary leverage to produce a power punch. His main assets were his speed, stamina and chin. Greb had a unique style of boxing that no one could ever duplicate. He did things in the ring that a boxer just shouldn't do like jumping in the air and punching his opponent. I believe some writers of that time referred to that move as his "jumping jack shot", or something like that. Greb got away with a lot of things in the ring because of his amazing hand and foot speed. The Pittsburgh Windmill was awkwardly clever in the ring. He was a one of a kind, there is no doubt about it. If Greb did possess great knockout power, just imagine how many fighters would have ducked him then.

 

The Rosenbloom fight is telling to how hard Greb could hit because he floored Rosenbloom, beat the hell out of him, and then let up on the gas to the point where the newspapers stated that Greb literally went out of his way and tried hard to allow Rosenbloom to stay the limit. After that Greb absolutely dominated Rosenbloom by outboxing him. Something which was not an easy task to do. Take it for what its worth but Greb took Rosenblooms two greatest assets :durability, and cleverness and turned them inside out beating him at both. Pretty impressive.

 

Well said, Burt. If I had read your post first, I probably wouldn't have wasted my time typing mine. You said what I wanted to say and then some. Keep it coming, B.B.

 

No it was not an irregular heartbeat--
both Greb and Armstrong was reputed to have a slow heart rate, in the 40s...Marathon runners have developed slow heart rates...
Sidenote--when Harry Greb first walked in a gym to learn to box ,he was told he was too muscle bound to box...Were they wrong...