That is because the article i took the quote from made it look as though Harry said it to Keck, just the two of them, not in the open. You misunderstood... I was not saying it is unbeleiveable how Firpo would not fight Greb but would fight Dempsey, I was not disagreeing with you. I jsut found it funny Firpo took a chance with a tiger in Dmepsey only to get battered the way he did and not fight a light hitting MW. But once the reasons are explained as to why he did what he did, it makes more sense...
Well, Dempsey was the champion. How often does the champion get ducked by a contender? (Obelmejias did openly admit after his second failed challenge of Hagler that he was going to move up in weight so he wouldn't have to fight Marv again. But at SMW, he was Chong Pal Park's master. When 35, Fully finally became a late career transitional champion at Park's expense in South Korea. Considering the fact that Park won 11 straight title fights at the weight, it's reasonable to assume a younger Obel could have done likewise.) Firpo got himself immortalized and made a wealthy national hero in Argentina despite what was actually a pretty conclusive beat down. No such potential was to be had by squaring off with Greb, and in fact no such gain was realized by his taking on Wills. Retiring Willard, knocking out Brennan and Weinert were a means to an end, accumulating credibility for a title shot. Greb is high risk and low reward. Luis would either be beating up on an outsized victim, or seen losing to a "midget" who had "no business" owning him. The biggest risk with Dempsey is that he might not live to reap the benefits. There's much discussion today over the prospect of Dempsey-Greb for Jack's title, but I'd like to know what was published about such a pairing prior to Dempsey being granted a shot at Willard, or maybe even before his knockout of Fulton. Was Greb-Dempsey proposed and speculated about in print prior to Dempsey-Fulton in July 1918, or even Dempsey-KO Bill I in February 1918? Harry began 1918 weighing 170, and 1919 weighing 176, while Carp officially scaled 172 for Boyle's Thirty Acres in July 1921. How much was suggested in print about the 5'8" Harry challenging the aging 6'6" Pottawatomie Giant before Jack trapped Big Jess in Toldeo?
Not a whole lot because prior to his emphatic win over Fulton Dempsey was still kind of on the fringe. Greb was already an established name but was being considered more of a MW/LHW contender than HW and it didnt help that the titles were basically frozen because of the war so you fought when and where you could (particularly if you were in the service, like Greb, and had to rely furlough in order to fight) without a clear objective in sight.
I should add that Willard was a huge fan of Greb's and had been singing his praises since 1917 or 1918. After He lost the title he stated several times publicly that he felt Greb was the man to beat Dempsey. Willard tried to hire Greb as a sparring partner in 1919 while training for Dempsey but Greb declined because he already had several bouts lined up that were more lucrative than Willards offer and because he intended to challenge the winner.