A deeper dive on Harry Greb's greatness.

Hi Buddy.
I am sure your post will go down in the annals as one of the most profound, and illuminating posts on the forum, due ( I would suggest ) to my age, it has left me conflicted, confused, and somewhat befuddled, so you think, or believe that the judges were unduly kind to Greb, and had there been more black officials, the results would have turned out different, as to the racism reflect, wasn't Greb lauded for taking on the best black fighters of his day, when other such luminaries as Dempsey and Tunney, were actively avoiding black challengers , as to Burns coming along at the just the right time to benefit NZ, is somewhat of a coincidence I would say, as for Greb only being as great as he was due to the era, I think he would have been a force to contend with in any era, such was his unique style of fighting, maybe I am getting the wrong end of the stick, if you feel I have misrepresented your points, please forgive me, it is not my intention, yours have been some of the most thought provoking and intelligent post during my time here, I just can't get my head around this one, that said I respect your opinions and views.
stay safe buddy, chat soon.
Mike.

 

I agree that Greb’s case is tricky since we’re stuck relying on newspapers and reports without footage or verifiable results to back it all up. The inconsistencies and potential bias make it hard to take his record at face value. But I don’t think that applies as much to modern fighters. Today, we’ve got video, stats, and global scrutiny, so it’s usually clear who’s legit (Usyk, Inoue, Bivol) versus who’s just a hype job propped up by the boxing machine (Davis, Garcia, Haney). The times have shifted, and so has how we can judge talent.

 

Off head without knowing I would guessed somewhere between in either the 60-80 range or the 80-100 range. 39 seemed strangely low but that's been clarified now.

 

Hey bud,

I think you got about half of it, yes. Or at least I do think the skepticism should be there.


If I say George Godfrey would have been HW champion without the cuffs fans come out the wood work to voice their skepticism.

If I voice skepticism about a man who actually benefitted from the same, exact, situation as what held back Godfrey fans pretend there is no good reason to be skeptical. you sir, are a case in point.


Yes, Greb fought black men. Godfrey fought white men. Racism reigned over outcomes. Skepticism over the situation is only ever used to benefit one of them. "We will never know just how good" is something often said about those barred from the color line not those who were not despite both fighting through the exact same situation.


If I said Godfrey's fights may not have been on the level, you say "yup." but if I say Greb's fights may not have been on the level I get a sentence half a page long as to why that's confusing.


As to Burns and Canada or Max/Germany, Primo/Italy, there is another answer beyond calling them mere coincidence or writing them off as fixed. Probably has something to do with marketability and emerging markets ... probably.

Glad you found my post poignant.

Ramos

 

It's more impressive than that. His streak of 45-0 in 1919 is more fights than the following:

Ray Leonard-40 Joe Frazier-37 Amir Khan-40 Jess Willard-34 Jim Jeffries-24 Jim Corbett-35 Kostya Tszyu- 34
Lennox Lewis-44 Antonio Tarver-39 Mac Foster-36 Michael Spinks-32 Donald Curry-40

 

Why did James J Jeffries have so few fights?

 

Hi Buddy.
Thanks for taking time out to reply, and your efforts to enlighten me on your contentions, the mist is clearing.....
stay safe amigo, chatsoon.

 

Exactly my dude. The era gave the man the atmosphere to perform in and he performed.

 

Greb beat the shite out of Tunney in their 2nd, and he got robbed so he was definateliy on the wrong side of the bad decesion as well.

 

This reply is spot on

 

Thanks buddy, appreciate your support.
stay safe , chat soon.

 

Interesting - I understand that you have seen the fight ?!

 

Ya look at the consensus smart ass. I understand that You should know that Greb got robbed in that one as the vast had him walking away with the title at the very least? Apparantly not. ...

 

Dont believe all what you read in the newspapers. If you check Comptons book on Greb you can find two newspaper reports that gave Tunney just ONE round. That looks downright stupid to me. Nat Fleicher called the fight a draw.