Difficult to answer without film but was he known as being technically skilled or more for using his physical attributes for his style?
I have no clue, but Im sure a lot better than what hes given credit for. Then again, are we talking sportwriters standards, or average joe from the block standards.
I would imagine he was problably technically more proficient than given credit for, the man fought some legendary technical fighters in Tunney, Loughran, and Gibbons. Judging from that brief clip, Greb looks like he could fight on the outside with a jab, or crowd or the inside. It seems that Greb was capable of mixing up those methods of fighting simultaneously not allowing an opponent to get set. I'm not sure of coarse, but just assuming Greb looked somewhat like Ken Overlin (like the old Pittsburgh papers said) I don't think Greb was an easy guy to figure out...Very unique style.
For his STYLE, Harry Greb was as shrewd and proficient a fighter that ever lived...Not in a CLASSIC style, but fitted to thwart any opponents attempts to beat him. When the occasion demanded he would jab, cross, and hook, all in overdrive...He was always on the attack, ala Henry Armstrong, but with more movement, and he NEVER gave you the ball. We all know how difficult to strike your target, when two gloves are pumping in your face. One of his victims once described Greb aptly after Greb stopped him. "It was like a truckful of gloves came pouring down from the ceiling on me, and I felt I was fighting an octopus ".For Greb to fight 300 bouts,almost weekly ,traveling to various towns, against mostly bigger men, and prevailing, Greb had to be wonderfuly skillful indeed...
After having boxed and watching boxing for a few decades, I am not sure I even know what "technically skilled" means. The bottom line is that what works for a fighter is what a fighter should go with, not some text book of feints, shifts and counters. The great ones break the rules. Skill=results.
Ive always seen him as a great " boxing booth fighter". could give anyone a fight beacuse his presure netralised 90% of what the other guy wanted to do. A beter version of Tommy farr. A durable, draining inside fighter with tricks.
Greb was veru good at what he did and that's all that matters. He wasn't a Robinson or Leonard stylewise but Still very effective. From the available footage I've seen he appears to be a tricky, shifty tough pain in the ass who is hard to hit cleanly and who keeps on coming throwing punches the whole time. A very difficult man to fight against any type of opponent.
His style was verry unorthodox, but we have to credit him with being verry technicaly skilled. He could switch from being a swarmer to being a technical boxer at will and often beat the slicksters at their own game.
Greb fought about 300 times at least. He was judged to have beaten almost everyone he faced, and rarely (if ever) by the "one-punch equalizer" route. He was known to land a lot of punches, and take relatively few in return. Therefore he was very very skillful.
And do u suppose they were right? Ive seen the AOL Time Warner merger labeled a winner by commentators too.