Harry Greb vs Heavyweights champions

I'm going to take a swing here. All this is just my opinion, so take it for what it's worth:

vs. Sullivan: John L. can't locate Harry with his deadly right. Harry is all over Sullivan. Punches come from everywhere and keep the big man off balance and unable to answer with anything but the occasional rush, miss and clinch. Greb by wide decision.

vs. Corbett: Corbett's speed makes it interesting at points. Boxing master Mike Gibbons stated that it was near-impossible for an orthodox boxer to time Greb (he should know). Harry's style played havok with most orthodox boxers. Corbett was textbook. Harry disrupts Corbett's timing and rhythm throughout and cops a unanimous nod, but not without a few anxious moments here and there.

vs. Fitzsimmons: Fitz was smart and deadly; one of the deadliest the game has ever seen. He would know going into the fight that he was facing a faster, more mobile fighter and was going to get beat for most of the bout. So being the patient fighter he was he would choose his shots wisely. His body blows stopped heavyweights, so they would have quite an effect on Greb. Somewhere in the mid to late rounds he would time one of Greb's rushes and land the KO shot.

vs. Jeffries: Jeff would be chasing Harry all night. Greb's shots would have little effect, but they would pile up points. It's hard to envision Greb losing a single round. But Jeff loved to whack the body and Greb would occasionally be in range for those. As with Fitz, sooner or later Jeff finds the crippling blow that the much-smaller man can't recover from. Jeff stops him late rounds.

Harry smacks both Hart and Burns silly.

I'll attempt Johnson through Louis later.

 

I would have to dig, which I'm admittedly too lazy to do right now. I'm hoping Klompton rings in and provides exact sources. But I have interviews with Happy Albacker and others close with Greb who were with him all night and state for the record that the two never even saw each other, let alone fought.

Also consider that a streetfight between Walker and Greb would have been screaming headlines the following day in the papers(fights between lesser fistic luminaries were well-documented). I've seen nothing to support it, other than stories that suddenly "appeared" years later.

 

Thats funny because immediately after the fight Walker met Doc Kearns and Walkers wife at Cabaret downtown where Kearns was forced to listen to the fight on radio as he was banned from working Walker's corner. They went immediately to Polyclinic Hospital to have Walker's cuts stitched up. Afterwards they went back to the hotel where Walker's wife and sparring partners took turns applying ice packs to his face and body.

Walker had just got his ass beat royally by the larger, stronger, and faster Greb. It boggles the mind that some here think he wanted more of that without rules and without a ref...

 

I never claimed it to be any more than that. It was a good yarn, that book in paticular is full of them, i would recommend it to people who arent even boxing fans.

Frankly the further back you look the more boxing is rife with corruption, fixed fights and stolen titles. Personally when i research its nothing more than to indulge in my own interest, im not in search of any "truth", its not why i love boxing and im often baffled at how worked up some people become over certain subjects. I just feel blessed i live in a time where from the comfort i my own home i can jump onto youtube and witness fights that i would otherwise only be able to read about in books and read newspaper clippings dating back a hundred years that exist on the other side of the world.

For the record Walker did say the only witness to the incident was a police officer who knew them both well, i guess he'd be the only nuetral who could could confirm what happened that night, it would also explain why it never hit the papers

 

Mickey Walker himself admitted later in life that he didnt make the story up but that it had been making the rounds so he adopted it and put his own spin on it. The story was not true. In fact you can go through the various quotes of Walker telling the story and he changed it several times through the years. Those who were with Greb stated it never happened. One of the most telling aspects that it was made up was the fact that when it started being told it always began with Mickey Walking into the same bar as Greb with a couple of girlfriends on his arm. Mickey was married at the time, his wife was with Kearns, he met his wife and Kearns immediately after the fight. They went to get Walker treated at a hospital and he then went to recuperate afterwards at his hotel. He was in no condition to go out partying afterwards. It was a gruelling fight, particularly for the smaller Walker. To that point it was the worst beating he had ever suffered. To him, years later, it probably helped to say that he had been beaten in the ring but won in the street, to save face a bit.

 

K you are correct it never happened, but the myth was good for Mickey
Walker's prestige, and he milked it over the years...

 

Thanks Klompton. I really didn't want to have to don my miner's cap and go spelunking in the bottomless cave that is my garage in order to exhume the research that disproves the streetfight story. atsch

But when someone asks me for my sources I feel obligated to share the info. So again, thanks :smoke