Did Greb have as much of a dark streak like Ketchel?

Discussion in 'Classic Boxing Forum' started by MrBumboclart, Dec 6, 2012.

  1. MrBumboclart

    MrBumboclart Active Member Full Member

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    From what I've read, Stan could be pretty mean spirited at times and cruel whether it was inside the ring or out. Because so much controversy surrounds Greb (was he dirty? was he a hellraiser? or is it all BS?) did he or did he not have the same dark streak his predecessor Ketchel had?
     
  2. Surf-Bat

    Surf-Bat Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Nothing that I've ever read. Even his opponents had good things to say about him. He was supposedly a fun, energetic guy who was always on the move. He was also a devoted husband (up until his wife dies tragically) and father.
     
  3. dpw417

    dpw417 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Ketchel strikes me as being crazy mean...but his fight film against Papke shows alot of ring smarts by playing to his own strengths.
     
  4. Lord Tywin

    Lord Tywin Guest

    I always heard he killed at least one guy and shot someone else just for fun.
     
  5. The Funny Man 7

    The Funny Man 7 Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Having grown up in Grand Rapids I can attest that there are a lot of grim stories about Ketchel. Even the passage of a century hasn't softened his reputation. He's such a seemingly evil, dark figure that he isn't perceived as a hero or celebrated figure in the town he called home.

    He wasn't merely behaved like like Mayorga or Mayweather. He was frightening and palpably evil, even moreso than Tyson or Duran or Liston. In terms of sheer pathos, I think only Monzon comes close among the all time greats.



    Ketchel is probably deep in the bowels of hell, punching Satan in the gonads right now.
     
  6. RockysSplitNose

    RockysSplitNose Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    :lol:haha Love that closing line

    What local tales have you heard Funnyman? Would be interested to hear the full extent - even the one's you don't think could be true - give us everything you got would be really interested to hear - thinking about hunting down some books on Ketchel too - any idea which might be the ebst ones to go for?
     
  7. Lord Tywin

    Lord Tywin Guest

    I have also heard that he was accused of molesting little girl, maybe a relative. Any one have any setails about this?
     
  8. mcvey

    mcvey VIP Member Full Member

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    I've read that Greb was a nice guy popular and friendly. Ketchel had a few screws loose ,imo, he carried a loaded revolver and was not above firing it when the mood took him.
    A sentimental man ,particularly about his Mother, I've read there was a very apparent streak of cruelty in him.
     
  9. SLAKKA

    SLAKKA Boxing Addict Full Member

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    Harry Greb once gave a cop some smash mouth and more or less got away with it. Maybe everyone agreed the cop deserved it??
     
  10. Bummy Davis

    Bummy Davis Obsessed with Boxing Full Member

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    If he was in hell, his arms probably not be able to punch and Satan would be using his gonads as a peanut bag ....Satan does not fight fair and as evil as Stanley may have been I think he met his master:fire
     
  11. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    Ketchel was never softened by children or by love in his life in the same way Harry Greb was.

    But neither one of them had a pathology as savage as Billy Papke. That mother****er was crazy.
     
  12. brnxhands

    brnxhands Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    All i know about ketchels out of ring antics is that he liked to sleep with other guys wives. Other than that he was known to be an ******* or something?
     
  13. McGrain

    McGrain Diamond Dog Staff Member

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    Some talk of "a bad crowd" in the build up to the second Papke fight which morphed into newspaper reports about his using opium not long after that. He was a bit of a wild man for sure.
     
  14. KuRuPT

    KuRuPT Boxing Junkie Full Member

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    Can I get some Papke stories as well :)
     
  15. JWSoats

    JWSoats Active Member Full Member

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    Long before my time, in Brick, New Jersey, there was a very large man who claimed to have beaten Stanley Ketchel on the banks of a local creek. He claimed that Ketchel hurt his hand when he struck the man's body - who was wearing a coat filled with walnuts in the lining. The man then knocked Ketchel "stiffer than a stilliard!"

    Of course, nobody believed this tale, even though the man told it as though he himself really believed it. It was considered just another of many tales in local folklore, such as German U-boats being seen in this same creek during WWII with the periscopes hidden by orange crates (a creek I waded across in my teen years).

    And Bummy, I agree that Ketchel would have met his master in Satan. But according to the book of Revelation (Rev. 20:10), Satan isn't in Hell yet, so the Ketchel-Satan FOTC is still future.