Harry Greb books

I like to think it will be the final word on Greb, and his career, in addition to shedding a considerable amount of light on his opponents.

 

I'll put it this way: I love boxing books and have a huge collection of them but I have never found one yet that had everything Ive ever wanted in a boxing book. Thats how Ive written this one. Everything you would want to know about the fighter, everything you need to know about his opponents, tons of photos, an extensive notes section, his complete record including all exhibitions, amateur bouts, service bouts, etc. and a good amount of historical context. Intelligent without being wordy...

 

I dont think Ive even mentioned Nat Fleischer. He didnt factor into Greb's career to any great degree.

 

It is sounding abit like Rosenfeld's Burley book in the way you are going to explainthe opponents and Greb in great detail.

I really look forward to it Klomton.

 

Inspiring thread (I mean that by the way, aint trying to be a sarky git)

 

Senya was a good poster, had his own very opinionated opinions and could back them up well. It would very interesting to see his different take on many things in boxing.

 

There were several that altered my preconceived notions of Greb in regards to how versatile he was. Nowadays he is viewed as simply a come forward swarmer but that wasnt really the case. He could box like a master when he wanted to, and not just against third raters. He could really do it all. Another aspect I wasnt aware prior to researching him was his punching power. He was never going to be a one punch KO artist but his record would have reflected a significantly higher KO percentage had he not suffered so many hand, wrist, and arm injuries throughout his career. I think early on, by 1916 at least, he had settled on a strategy of simply trying to outpoint guys because constantly breaking his bones was causing him to have to layoff fights and as such lose money. It got to the point where he would often carry a guy that he could have probably gotten out of there rather than risk breaking a hand or a wrist. A great illustration of this was his fight with Maxie Rosenbloom. Greb could have easily been one of the first and only guys to stop Maxie, he dropped him and dominated him to the point that the newspapers present at the fight stated that Greb literally went out of his way NOT to KO Maxie. That is a revelation in and of itself. He showed several times that when he sat down on his punches he could really hurt you. Another problem which affected his KO percentage was that he was not a good finisher. When he got a guy hurt he would get over eager and wild and sometimes miss his chance to get a guy out of there.

 

A little tidbit,in the early 1920s my father was a cab driver picked up Harry Greb and a beautiful young actress of the time Olive Thomas,and dropped them off at a club in NY...My dad should have asked for Greb's autograph instead of the usual tip...

 

Very interesting stuff. Can't wait to get the book !

 

You overrate my abilities. Compared to klompton, I have access to very limited choice of old newspapers, since I live in Russia, so I can't go to library and request this or that newspaper, or go to Baltimore and spend time looking through reels of microfilm. I wish I had some other Baltimore daily for 1890s to check, other than The Sun, but I don't.

 

Olive Thomas! Another legendary early death. Her autograph might be worth even more than his today. She died in September 1920, while Mildred Greb passed away nearly two and a half years later. Burt, that's a sensational scoop. (There appears to be nothing else on the internet linking these two together aside from your post.)