Marvelous Marvin Hagler vs. Harry Greb

I agree with most people here. I have to see film of Greb. A better fight would be Hagler vs Fitzsimmons.

 

Tough to call without ever having seen Greb fight. We do know he relied heavily on clinching and dirty tactics which would not be allowed against Hagler. How does that change his game plan? I guess it depends on which era they fought in. In Greb's era it's hard to bet against him, in Hagler's era I suspect Greb would struggle with the rules and have trouble making adjustments.

 

Marvin gives away the first third of the fight going orthodox to try to prove a point (or whatever) and loses a narrow decision, moves to Italy to make spaghetti westerns.

 

If I recall correctly, there was an early 80s article by Ray Arcel where he discusses this bout and he favoured Greb. You’d probably have to dig somewhere around the late 2000s-early 2010s forum archive to find it tho

 

From what I remember reading, Greb only held and hit and did other dirty things during The Last 5 Years of his career when he was blind in one eye. He literally couldn't see the opponent on whichever side it was, so he would have to grab them to hold them in place LOL. Before that, Greb wasn't really considered very dirty I don't think.

In fantasy matchups I always picture each fighter at their best and try to envision the fight. Impossible to do here, so I can't really pick a winner.

How frustrating is it that the one fighter who is considered pound-for-pound the greatest of all time by many, with a completely Unique Style which is almost impossible to describe, who when you see pictures of him in action looks as if he is sending some sort of semaphore signals...... and zero fight footage.

 

Some quotes I found from older threads by people who seem to have read the article I’m thinking of

 

Greb gives Hagler quite the beating over 15 rounds. Greb beat light heavyweights, Hagler's biggest wins are over fighters who came up in weight (Duran and Hearns) Greb UD 15.

 

The known vs the unknown.
We saw what prime Hagler could do. We can easily envision by what we've seen of his prime his total skill set, and can reasonably match him against most ATG middleweights in history and give a very reasonable opinion of him matched against most of them in history.
Greb is more legendary than factual. In other words yes he may have beaten bigger men, however the skill level of those men remain a question, and , who's to say Hagler wouldn't have beaten those same men.
After all, skill level can overcome many physical advantages, and that has been proven too many times in the almost a hundred years since Greb has fought.
Based on the little film of Greb, and from the writers of his era's description of the way he fought, everything he did was tailor made for Hagler.
His extreme aggression, his punching power, his lack of defense and tactical patience all played right into what prime Hagler shined best against.
Hagler would feast and beat the hell out of Greb, everything that that has been written as a strength for Greb would be an extreme weakness against Hagler.
This hypothetical fight, as described by the men who saw Greb fight, and what we can actually see from Hagler is more one sided than most would like to admit....
Hagler would beat the hell out of Greb, or Mickey Walker or any boxer of that era.
Its unlikely that any of them gets pass ten rds against him.

 

Why would Ray Arcel not classify Hagler as a great fighter? Was he thinking of the first Vito Antuofermo fight?

 

Graziano beating Hagler??

Arcel’s opinion just became moot.

 

Hagler wasn't the same when he got in with "legends" which is why I'd pick Greb.

 

Hearns is a “legend” for sure. Marv did well there.

 

Hi Flash.
Very interesting and thought provoking observations on the outcome of this most intriguing fantasy match up, would expect nothing less from your goodself, just a small caveat, with your permission, despite what many posters seem to believe, Greb wasn't a fighter that only fought with extreme aggression, if indeed he did at all, as I have wrote on here numerous times, he didn't fight like , Armstrong, Frazier, Chavez, etc, who most certainly did fight with such a style, Harry fought in a quite unique style, not seen before him, and nor since, its paramount that posters take this fact in, before evaluating Greb match ups, as stated by Tunney, Walker, Moore, and plenty of others, Greb was a utter whirlwind, never in the same place for more than a few seconds, hold that thought ! so he would rush the opponent from the opening bell to the end of the fight, ceasely would the opponent be hit with " a thousand punches " every round, as described by the above, and from every angle, a non stop barrage of hurtful punches, that whilst not particularly hard, stung and cut, then a second after the avalanche , Greb would be gone, out of range for any kind of counter punches, Moore " I was hitting air for most of the 15 rounds " so far from " lack of defense " he had the perfect defense, distance ! plus as reported, he grew stronger as the fight progressed, imagine, so to say he fought with extreme aggression, does not tell the whole story, for what it's worth, I believe he would posite a 15 round UD over Hagler, and the same for Robinson and Monzon, I see no peer at middleweight and very few above, he is No1 all round in my book, and I am staunch in that.
Please take my post in the spirit it is meant, and in no way distracts from yours, I greatly admire your insight and knowledge, and never let your posts go by.
stay safe buddy, chat soon.
Mike.

 

Impossible to predict. Both had engines that wouldn't quit with granite chins.
Greb was fast a foot and hard to catch clean. He beat up bigger boxers while conceding weight. He also has gotten his clock cleaned but still has hung in there. He's also been outpointed by smaller guys.
No one is getting Kod here. I lean towards Hagler in 12, and Greb in 15 .. very close fight here.

The MW division like no other has the closest , greatest fighters in a division. You might as well throw Monzon, SRR, and Roy Jones in there. Out of those 5 guys , its all 50 - 50 fights imo