FM, interesting you bring up the name of Ken Overlin ,a former underated'MW champion of the 1930s, who had a non-stop style attack, always on the move, that he was called "the poor man's Harry Greb". Overlin beat the great young Ezzard Charles, when Ken was a fading fighter incidentally. When Overlin learned he was called the "poor man's Harry Greb", he retorted, "I am convinced that Harry Greb would have beaten me and my top contender ,both on the same night with no rest in between ". Unquote...Tremendous compliment by Overlin to possibly the greatest fighter who ever lived, the original Pittsburgh Windmill, whom my dad saw whip the hide off Gene Tunney at MSG. in 1922...
Godzilla I suppose considering journalist never use hyberbole or superlatives, thus meaning everything describing Greb is true, I'm sure he was as quick as Leonard with razor sharp fangs and fists hidden behind his fists
He must of had a hell of a work rate as berg was said by some Americans to have a work rate that even surpassed that of greb .
Not even close B. Jackie Kid Berg had but one style. He was always on the offense. But Greb threw so many punches from any conceivable angle and at the same time was bouncing around on his toes to and fro. One opponent described what it was to be in the ring with Greb thusly,"it was though someone had opened up the ceiling above and dumped a carload of boxing gloves on me". The fighter I have seen on tape that comes closest to Harry Greb in style was Ken Overlin, onetime MW champion who was called 'the poor man's Harry Greb".He can be seen on youtube I believe...
Burt only remembering what I'd read and as I posted it was a about work rate not exact style and how some Americans thought that bergs work rate was higher than greb's
I understand what you're saying. But consider this: Over 4 decades worth of writing by sportswriters and eyewitnesses describing Greb are so remarkably consistent that they almost read as if they've been written by the same scribe. If one wants to describe scores of years of identical testimony from such wide and disparate sources from all over the country attesting to Harry's style as "hyperbole", then have at it. As for me, I find that kind of evidence pretty hard to dismiss, even a little bit. Cheers :smoke
right... http://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n..._=1424446801_6bb16325850d007e632e5459a6fc9613 (such a shame we can't just post pics directly here) .
I always kind of imagined Greb as the young Oscar de la Hoya who could pressure and bounce in and out of optimum range with ease.
While watching Robinson Castellanos wipe the floor with Ronny Rios in a upset of a televised bout on the 10th of October, I noticed that the former had an extremely unorthodox fighting style which he used to full advantage. Castellanos threw lots of punches from all angles with telling effect. To put it mildly, Rios was completely baffled and overwhelmed with the referee mercifully stopping the bout in the fifth round. I am not suggesting that a club fighter like Castellanos is remotely in the class of Harry Greb. But I was wondering if the fighting styles of Greb and Castellanos are somewhat similar. I am keeping in mind that Greb undoubtedly was far superior in terms of quickness, durability, ring generalship, defensive ability and very nimble footwork. I must say that I doubt if the fighting styles of Joe Calzaghe and a young Oscar de la Hoya were remotely similar to Greb's. - Chuck Johnston
Found this quote from Alfred Dayton He varies from the average run of foreign fighters in as much as he possesses an intimate knowledge of in-fighting. In close his arms work like pistons and he is such a busy individual that he has been termed the English Harry Greb , and in some instances , the English Ace Hudkins . But both these cognomens are slightly in error . Berg boats much more skill along with his whirlwind tactics than either This is a quote so please don't all kill me at once