Greatest Middleweight once and for all- Greb? Monzon? Hagler?

Well I certainly disagree with twynin and burt. I believe Greb is a great light heavyweight as well as a great middleweight.

I believe they completely underestimate his worth as a light heavyweight. It's a shame really to see such greatness unappreciated.

 

People who know better? Hah! I laugh at IBRO myself for including Jack Blackburn in lightweight division ratings.

 

You laugh at IBRO?

The sources you are able to cobble together in Russia must be far better than anything we have here in the USA, you know, where these events actually took place and we can actually look at all of the sources.

 

luf, I truly want to understand your reasoning on why you have Monzon or Hagler OVER Harry Greb in a MW showdown ? On what basis do you think a Monzon or Hagler were "better" middleweights than a Greb who beat all the middleweights of his time and some were HOFamers in a tough era, and STILL had the powerful talents to go beyond 160 and amazingly whip great tough 175 pounders as Tunney, Loughran, Gibbons, Dillon, Rosenbloom, Kid Norfolk, spotting these great talents 10-15 pounds and some tough heavyweights. ? Being that you and I never saw the great Greb
in action ,I after serious thought , conclude that would a Monzon or Hagler
[or anyone for that matter] fight the same roster that Harry Greb did in his THREE HUNDRED fight career would Carlos or Marvin be HALF of successful
as Greb did in his amazing career ? And if you will, on what basis can you say Monzon or Hagler were better than Harry Greb who when he wanted to
was always UNDER 160 pounds til his last 2 bouts, with Tiger Flowers,
though, old and creaky and worn down to a frazzle from 300 bouts and several near fatal auto accidents, and might I add HALF BLIND to boot !.
So luf on what basis can you say Hagler were better middleweights than the Iron City Express ? With all respect and curiousity .
And remember both Monzon and Hagler were "bigger" men than Greb was...

 

I dont know who was better since I've never seen Greb in action.

With regards to greater, however resume is only half the argument for me. The other half is achievement and Monzon and Hagler achieved a level of dominance as mw champion that none others have done before or since.

I then give the benefit of seeing them on film hence putting them a whisker above Harry in this one division.

As you say he beat great light heavyweights and as such I also rate him highly as a light heavyweight.

 

I'm pretty certain that I know more about Joe Gans' and Jack Blackburn's (before imprisonment) boxing careers than anybody at IBRO. Jack Blackburn wasn't a lightweight, regardless that he was called such by contemporary writers. All bouts where his weight was reported except one or two show him above the lightweight limit. And when he actually managed to make a reported 132 pounds, he was too weak to fight properly.

 

This is how I see Greb.

HW - G Smith, Brennan (x4), Meehan (x2), Renault (x2), Weinert, H Smith.

LHW (41 months as top man) - Levinsky (x3), Dillon, Tunney, Miske (x2), Houck (x2), T Gibbons (x2), M Gibbons, Loughran (x3), J Smith, Rosenbloom, - Tunney (Dx2)*, Loughran (Dx2)*, Flowers (D), Z Kid (D) - Gibbons (L), Tunney (Lx2) .

MW (36 months as top man) - Dillon, Walker, Slattery, J Smith, Chip (x2), Moha, Wilson (x2), Brennan (x3), McCoy, Downey, Moore, - Flowers (D)* - Flowers (L) O'Dowd (L).

Seriously I don't even think there's a decent argument that he has a better MW ledger than a LHW one. He holds victories over 7 guys I list in my top 20, 7!