Now bare with me here, ID LOVE to have seen him on film, but to be honest the levels of expectation that people would want if some film did turn up would be crazy, they would demand he was the fastest, most brutal fighter on film history, and if he did not look like that, he would get ripped to shreds dont you think ? I for one am sure some where there is something, but sadly the advancement of time is making it seem less and less likely, its a kick in the guts knowing in some ones atic or garage, or some film studio or warehouse etc, there is all most defiantly a roll of greb film lying about, and the owners or people that work there just dont know what it is or what it would mean to people :|:| But getting back to my post, yeah so just going by the posts on his slim sparing and workout footage on youtube, one can see he is on a hiding to nothing here, he either has to be the legend of boxing we all want him to be (and which his record indicates he probably is or was), OR he will be cut to pieces with the hate and the idea that in fact all the old boxers from that era who sweated blood and guts were all over rated and had no skills bar there toughness I also have a theory there is footage of him, and in fact a small number of private collectors know about it, and have seen it, but are waiting before cashing in
Nah, i still wanna see what his style is like. Who cares what the PowerPunchers would say? The guy's greatness isn't dimished by footage.
i have to repeat a post i put in another thread...film can both help and hurt and like you allueded to, it could (and would) hurt greb. his films would be picked apart, as are the fights of all modern fighters. his moves would be analyzed, his punches critique and every botch match for all to see. his KO loss to joe chip (regardless of how early in his career) would be made into a highlight reel on glass jaws. grebs style, no matter how great, would be used against him and his fights would be used to illustrate how amazing he WASN'T and how far things have advanced
the only truth to this thread is that if there was ever footage of Greb found, I bet you it would be one one of his last fights, therefor an unfair view of his abilities
I always favor results over aesthetics (in terms of rating fighters, not enjoying them), so it wouldn't change anything for me, really.
i wish i could say the same...some fighters have brilliant performances in loses and dirty, shameful performances in wins. i want to see them in action because frankly resumes can be misleading (at times)
They can be, but on the other hand, when you amass the kind of enormous resume that Greb has, there's only so much I'd think it can mislead. If a guy has two or three big wins, okay, but Greb's resume is so stacked...
good point. with guys like greb (robinson, ali, charles, SNV) their resumes are so far beyond question that abilities and performances go hand in hand with them
I think it would be dissected beyond reason, but to the boxing purist, to the historian, I gurantee you he would live up to expectation. I submit exhibit A: the Langford-Jeanette film that got circulated a couple months ago... Both Langford and Jeanette suprised most of us with their activity, combinations, and "modern" style... The eras of the past have drawn criticism for generally being primitive. The truth is, in every era, there are guys that are standouts- ahead of their time, and a cut above stylistically. I believe Greb was one of the handful (maybe more) of fighters in that era that performed on a higher level than his contemporaries...
great point and glad you brought up landford jeanette. the only crack against them was their workrate (unfortunately, i disagree and it was below par for me) every era has fighters that exceed the "limitations" of their generation and greb obviously was one of them. their surely would be differences from now but who knows how prevalent they'd be? on the point though, i have to say that jack johnson for me does not and never will look good on film and the limitations of his era ring loud and clear when i watch him
Agree with the disappointment with Johnson. As for the Langford-Jeanette film, I was impressed with the action, as I was expecting clich filled, one punch at a time, wild and sloppy garbage... Instead, I saw high action, counterpunching, good footwork and distance management, modern-looking jabs, combinations, and serious head movement and defense... One could make the same case for not being impressed with the majority or our "modern era" fighters... Make a time machine and show films of Paul Williams getting KTFO'd, and even films of him in his victories, along with many of our premier fighters to the old-time, primitive fighters, and you would see these guys wag their heads in amazed disapppointment. Look at our heavyweight division. It's a ****ing joke! There have been fights and fighters who are ho-hum, marching forward, eating punches, in love with their power (Abraham and Tua for quick examples), fighter who dull the action, who don't engage or actually fight, but just survive in what seems to be million-dollar sparring matches (see most fights, nowadays as an example)... There have always been guys who stink up the joint and always guys who come to fight. There have always been guys who are the epitome of their era and guys who rise above the crabs in the barrel.
i like this point and it harkens back a bit...ingo was DQd in the olympics for lack of effort. fighters were scrutinized and belittled for putting up less than a total effort in past decades. now, it's almost expected that a title challenger will take his money, cover up and suffer a beating before retiring with his tail between his legs. i hate generalizations but it's a joke the "challenges" that exist now and the egos that go along with it