1922-10-20 El Paso Herald (El Paso, TX) (page 14) According to Jim Erwin, matchmaker, an attempt is being made to match the winner of this bout tonight with Harry Greb. Greb will be in Oklahoma City November 11, and has wired Erwin that he is open to a match here and has mailed his terms. A fight with Greb will mean much to either Langford or Taylor, and in order to get the match both will shoot hard tonight and try to land the kayo.
So there you go. Greb was willing to face the winner of Langford-Smith. Unfortunately for history's sake Greb's bout in Oklahoma City was delayed when they couldnt find a suitable opponent for Greb. Instead Greb faced Bob Roper in Buffalo and then entered into a major managerial dispute with George Engel which kept him out of the Oklahoma fight and inactive for almost two months. By that time Greb was forced to stay in then east due to his wife's imminent death. He was also on notice by the NYSAC that he had to defend against Tunney or face official sanction. That being said I dont believe that negotiations ever got to any advanced stage for Greb-Langford bout even at that point. Remember, this newspaper also stated a week later that Greb had signed a deal to appear in Havana in a series of contests. I find this unlikely. A trip to havana would have taken days at best. Greb wouldnt have stayed that long away from his wife whose condition was such that she could go at any time. A day, maybe two, but certainly not longer. He may have, around this time, entertained a fight in Texas/Mexico because he had planned on taking Mildred to Arizona where it was hoped that the dry climate would help her Tuberculosis. But very quickly they discovered that she was too weak to travel and could only make it to Pittsburgh. Any longer and it would likely kill her. So any thought of travelling west was quickly quashed, that combined with his problems with George Engel and his supposed eye trouble at this time (Im not totally convinced he had eye problems, he may have been using these as an excuse to get out of bouts that Engel had obligated him to) would have made a fight against the winner of Langford-Smith out west all but impossible for the foreseable future. Then Greb lost to Tunney on a bad decision, his wife died a few weeks later, he took time off to grieve and upon coming back suffered from blood poisoning that nearly cost him his arm. While recuperating he was offered a title shot at McTigue (which McTigue ducked) and then in short order a title fight with Wilson. So you see for nearly a year Greb's schedule made such a match total fantasy.
Or Willie Meehan, or Ted Jamieson, or Terry Keller, or Gunboat Smith, or Jack Blackburn, or Tiger Flowers.
Winner of Sam Langford-Jack Taylor, not Smith (I didn't find any confirmation of the October 6 bout vs Cyclone Smith). I wasn't argueing one way or the other, anyway, just thought I'd share a quote from an article I stumbled upon while sorting out my Langford scrap-books.
Greb wanted to fight a prime Dempsey I doubt he would balk at an old,fat half blind Langford. In fact I doubt Greb would duck/avoid anyone. He was a "one off", never to be replicated.