Harry Greb the truth?

4. and what the hell is a newpaper decision? Some states had weird laws about boxing being a legitimate sport back then..so no "official" decision was given, but the newspapers rendered their opinions on who won.

 

1. Not large but a small portion. I think he was blinded by Kid Norfolk. Others know for sure.
2. Never heard of that one. Doubt it though. Probably had an injured arm at the very most. He was only a man after all. Not Iron Man.
3. Yes.
4. Back in Greb's time it was common for the fight to be declared a "No Contest" if there was no knockout. Well, since there was no official decision by any judges the newspaper sports reporters would give a decision based upon what they had seen. These were usually written by folks who saw the fight and give a detailed rd by rd account. Its all opinion so you want to read a collection of newspaper articles instead of just one if you want to get a good idea of who won.

 

When still "equal" size, Tunney & Greb had true wars, with Greb busting Tunney up in one fight putting the only loss on Tunney's record.

 

I would assume that the fight with broken arm relates to the one he had against Kid Graves, Greb damaged his left arm early in the second round by a incorrectly thrown head punch, he in fact managed to win that round by close margin, between rounds 2 and 3 the doctor diagnosed a fracture in his lower arm, ref had no choice but call it as a TKO loss for Greb, next day Greb showed the x rays as proof of fracture of bone in forearm.
So yes fought with broken arm, and won the round, tough guy was our Mr Greb.

 

He is one of the most entertaining characters in boxing ever, during one fight the referee broke action and said to Greb "what are you doing" Greb responded with "I'm gouging johnnys eye, can't you see"

 

"No contest" bouts were totally different from "no-decision" or "newspaper decision" ones. In "no contest" bouts, the referee usually make a ruling when at least one of the fighters is not putting forth a satisfactory effort. In "no-decision" or "newspaper decision" bouts, local or state laws did not permit the rendering of official decisions.

- Chuck Johnston

 

I've literally just finished reading Klompton's book "Live Fast Die Young, The Life and Times of Harry Greb" and what a body of work it is, anybody who wants the definitive lowdown on Greb I would recommend to buy it.
It's basically as close as can be factual account of Greb's fistic career and a little bit about his private life taken almost exclusively from primary sources.
What comes through is that the man must have been a remarkable fighter with a unique style, fearless and frightened of no man no matter what weight or colour, he never drew the colour line.
In a much fairer world it's pretty certain that he would have held the middleweight and light heavyweight titles at the same time and not inconceivable also that he could have held the heavyweight title, although seeing that he would have had to beat Jack Dempsey who seemed to avoid him that's up for conjecture, all the while fighting in the 160's and below.
Also he did fight with a fractured arm and fought the last 5 years of his career totally blind in his right eye, it was so serious that when he retired he immediately had an operation to replace it with a glass eye.
The mythical who's the greatest fighter who ever lived is something that obviously can't be answered, but in any debate Harry Greb would have to be in there as a serious contender.

 

He fought the last five yrs of a 13 yr career blind in one eye.

He fought Zulu Kid in Kalamazoo, Mi with a broken arm boxing almost exclusively one handed. This wasnt uncommon as he often fought with broken hands, wrists, ribs, etc.

He had 300 fights not including army bouts, exhibitions, and amateur bouts.

A newspaper decision comes about when a state or municipilaty made it illegal to render an official judges or referees decision which could be wagered upon by gamblers. Gambling was seen as a corrupting influence on a sport that was already considered brutal. It was thought that by eliminating the gambling element you could turn boxing from a brutal sport into an exhibition of self defense. In such areas where no decision was rendered it was typically agreed upon by gamblers and everyone else to utilize the opinion of the newspapers experts ringside as to who won a given fight. Often times the men writing for these newdpapers were as expert an opinion as you could find because they had been involved in the sport for years not just as an observer but often times as referees, managers, trainers, promoters, etc.

 

Quick little story, Greb was driving in his car and was stopped at a red light, 5 thugs surrounded the car and ordered Greb out, when the police arrived all 5 of them were on the floor, there was blood all over the car and the only injuries that Greb got from this were cuts and minor bruises, in the end Greb dropped all charges because he saw a little girl crying that happened to be one of the thugs daughters, when the police asked him why he dropped the charges he responded with "I gave them a licking anyway"

 

Another story is that Harry Greb actually had an altercation with Mickey walker after their fight, Mickey walker went to a local club to meet up with his manager but Harry Greb was there, surprisingly however Greb offered Mickey a drink, they both sat and talked for a while but they both went outside, Greb hailed a cab and let Mickey in first before Mickey got in the cab he told Greb that the only reason Greb won is because of his eye gouging, Mickey was halfway in the taxi but before he could get all the way in Greb grabbed him by the back of his neck and pulled him back out onto the street, Greb (getting ready to fight) took his coat off but before he could get it all the way off Mickey sucker punched him square on the chin, however Greb has one of the best chins in middleweight history and just took the punch, they slugged away until a police officer broke it up, years later Mickey spoke about the incident stating that the punch he hit Greb with would of knocked out any other man, he also said that during the fight Greb missed a punch and Greb ended up with his back turned towards Mickey, mickey tried to take advantage of this but from Greb position Mickey somehow ended up with grebs fist in his mouth, until the day he died Mickey walker said he had no idea how Greb did that when he was facing away. This really highlights how unorthodox Grebs style was in the ring.

 

It is a well known fact that jack Dempsey ducked harry Greb, I know this because Harry Greb actually stormed into Dempseys managers office and demanded a fight with jack but was still turned down, they did spar quite a few times, from people who witnessed these sparring sessions they said that Greb was way too quick for Dempsey and that Greb was really embarrassing Dempsey since Greb was landing punches and Dempsey simply couldn't find the target this is probably the reason why the Greb-Dempsey fight never happened, as a bit of extra information during one of the sparring sessions Greb actually head butted Dempsey, this caused Dempsey to bite his own tongue and as a result not only was Dempsey embarrassed at loosing sparring to a middleweight when he was a heavyweight champion he also split his tongue wide open and needed treatment.

 

The three previous stories told by ice cold boxing are incorrect in various degrees.

Greb did not predate sports films rhino. He was actually filmed several times. Those films are unfortunately lost to history.