Greb and the Heavyweights- Tommy Gibbons

Here is the article and again Greb name is not mentioned.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...&pg=2866,5569898&dq=dempsey+harry+wills&hl=en

 

Greb was a middleweight. Would you have paid to see Foreman fight Monzon?, Louis fight Zale? Marciano fight Graziano? I would not and I do not think many fans would. First they all all mismatches as would have been a Dempsey Greb encounter. All thoughts that Greb might do well facing Dempsey were regarding sparring sessions more than likely with big gloves. Large sparring gloves better neutralize punching power so Greb at 165 pounds can last. Tyson knocked down Tyson in training. Ali was stumbled by Hearns in a sparing session, the list is endless. Sparring is not a real fight. With five oz horse hair filled gloves Dempseys power whichever awed true hwts would tear a hole through a middleweight. Greb would not last two rounds with Dempsey at his best. Nor would he last two rounds in the ring with Marciano, Liston, Foreman or Tyson.

 

Greb last fought Miske years before his bout in early 1922 with Gibbons. Again after beating Gibbons what did Greb do to keep his contender status in the hwt division?

The poll realeased the day of his bout with Gibbons shows he was NOT taken as a serious contender for Dempseys title At that point in time. WHY? He was a 5'8 165 pound MIDDLEWEIGHT.

 

Don't recall Monzon ever beating Ken Norton or Graziano beating Ezzard Charles. Greb, however, did beat four men deemed good enough to challenge Dempsey. If Greb was only a middleweight, then Dempsey routinely defended his title against men who lost to a middleweight, and earned their shots by beating men that a middleweight had already beaten. If Greb was not a deserving challenger, then nor were they, which doesn't leave many deserving challengers on Dempsey's ledger.

 

This was a weeks long poll conducted by the New York Daily News (which Evans didnt even write for). This is nothing but a blurb about the final result of the poll. If you followed the daily updates of the poll that were printed in the New York Daily News instead of taking what was essentially a summary you would have seen that Greb did in fact very well for "just a middleweight" and was not only mentioned but featured several times in the days leading up to the final result. More telling is the fact that while Greb did have heavy representation in this poll but did not win is the fact that this article is printed on the same day that Greb fought Gibbons in Rickards title eliminator. Gibbons placed second in that poll, that night he lost a one sided decision to Greb. How well do you think Greb would have done had that poll concluded one week later? Id say pretty damn well. But more telling is that fact that despite Greb beating the guy who came in second by a wide margin Dempsey didnt fight him or the guy who came in first. I'll post actual examples of what Perry has been denying all along on Sunday when I return to my office. Specifically primary sources from the NYDN poll which show Greb actually was doing well and was being mentioned as a viable contender despite ultimately falling behind, in what needs to be mentioned was a very unscientific "write in" campaign poll, meaning that anyone could write in their pick and do so as many times as they wanted in order to skew the numbers.

 

Does not matter. YOU paint Greb as the leading contender for Dempseys title. Obviously he was NOT considered the front runner in the public eye at a time where you say he should be. He beats Gibbons the same day that poll comes out but then what does Greb do? He does nothing from the day he beats Greb until the day he dies to keep any level of ranking in the hwt division. The question is why do you paint him with such a lofty status AS A HWT when the boxing/sporting public obviously was more interested in WILLARD getting a rematch than Greb getting a title shot! You have painted a very false picture of those times in the hwt division.

 

:good:good:good:good

 

Article from 1923 regarding a Dempsey Wills bout. Interesting that the true story was known quite well at the time. It gets lost today by those who want to sell books or write revisionist articles.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LxlgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-20NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1950,381136&dq=menke&hl=en

 

Demspey was perfectly happy fighting men who Greb defeated. He just wasn't happy fighting Greb himself.

 

Greb was a 5'8 165 pound middleweight. He was not beating Dempsey and the lay public was not going to buy the idea he had any chance to beat Dempsey.

 

But this small MW was able to beat the title challengers before Demspey did. Funny that.

 

Tunney, Gibbons, Brennan, Miske all lost to Greb. But Greb himself wasn't a worth challenger? Such a load of bs.

 

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What are you talking about ? since when did Greb beat Tunney in their 4th fight ?

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Maybe he got a shot because he was a great fighter but yeah, that's the first time here you ever made me laugh hard.

 

What a pathetic response that was Klompton, fact is Dempsey MADE boxing in the 20's and is highly responsible for it's massive growth in popularity from then and for decades to come, Jack Dempsey was probably the most popular boxer of all time and I think this is what grates at you more than anything that ever happened in boxing history, all this you are writing stems from SOUR G****S because you think Greb should have been to the public what Dempsey actually was, all this attacking this poster (Dempsey) is about Greb far more than about the fighter Jack Dempsey. Sure there is much I am not satisfied with about Dempseys long but rather inactive reign as champion but I think much of it has to do with the fact that Dempsey was just about the most famous man on the planet and he really didn't need to fight or defend his title more than he did... hell I wish he ignored everyone who wanted a piece of him and wish he fought Wills and anyone else WHO WAS A LEGIT HEAVYWEIGHT OR AT LEAST A BIG LIGHT HEAVY (Greb does not fit the bill, in my opinion anyone allowing a heavyweight to fight a guy Greb's size should be jailed)... so as I said I wish Dempsey had ten extra fights in this time but my opinion and everyone else's mattered little to Dempsey, he was rich and therefore the need to fight regularly just wasn't there but for you to not acknowledge that Dempsey wasn't good for boxing says just so much about you.