Harry Greb vs Jack Johnson.

Um, no. I said others described him as amateurish. Those where were there and the top expert here on Greb. Try to quote people correctly for a change.

If you want to quote me, I have only seen Greb in sparring clips, and there were times that he impressed with his balance.

I have not made an official call, but I will say Greb beat a lot of the same guys Dempsey did while Dempsey was a champion, and I consider that competition equivalent or in some cases better than those whom Johnson gave title matches too.

For a side by side comparison, Greb beat Tunney, Loughran, and Gibbons. This is better than anyone Johnson defended his title against ( in the condition when he fought them ), save perhaps Jess Willard who knocked Johnson out.

 

Taken from Cox's Corner. Read below KuRuPT, Greb was not easy to hit, and very fast Since Johnson Stuggled with Jack O'Brien, who was in there to hit and run, why could Greb not do the same?

" Greb’s record is virtually unbelievable. How many fighters can claim to have a record like that of Harry Greb? He defeated 18 men who held, had held, or would hold world championships, and this at a time when there were only 8 divisions in boxing and one champion in each division. The 5 middleweight champions that Greb defeated were Mike O’Dowd, George Chip, Al McCoy, Mickey Walker, Tiger Flowers and Johnny Wilson from whom he won the title. He also defeated 4 middleweight title claimants Eddie McGoorty, Frank Mantell, Jeff Smith and Bryan Downey. Greb defeated 7 light heavyweight world champions, Mike McTigue, Jack Dillon, Battling Levinsky, Tommy Loughran, Jimmy Slattery and Maxie Rosenbloom and one future world heavyweight champion, Gene Tunney whom he fought five times. Count ‘em! 5+4+7+1=18 champions who lost to Greb. Remarkable! "


" Heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey said that Greb was “The fastest fighter I ever saw. Hell. Greb is faster than (lightweight champion) Benny Leonard.” In 1920 Greb, who was in training for Billy Miske, sparred Dempsey a few rounds. The sparring sessions were so good that thousands of fans showed up just to watch. According to eyewitnesses Greb “slapped the crouching heavyweight champion around, and bounced away before Dempsey could do more than **** a punch.” Jack Kearns, Dempsey’s manager, ran Greb out of camp. There was much talk of a Dempsey-Greb match for the heavyweight championship, but it never came off. It seems Jack Kearns was unwilling to take the chance.

Fighting Greb was like fighting a man with eight arms. “He was never in one spot for more than half a second,” said Gene Tunney, “All my punches were aimed and timed properly but they always wound up hitting empty air. He'd jump in and out, slamming me with a left and whirling me around with his right or the other way around. My arms were plastered with leather and although I jabbed, hooked and crossed, it was like fighting an octopus.”

Greb would swarm over his opponents with his blazing fast hands while throwing punches from all angles. Veteran fight manager Dan Morgan said, “He threw so many punches that the breeze from his misses gave opponents pneumonia. He tossed leather from all directions in fusillades, barrages, salvo’s, and volleys. Naturally being so fast and throwing so many punches he was not a knocker-outer. To shoot a real shock punch a fighter must get set, be more or less stationary for a fraction of a second. Greb was never still in the ring, so most of his knockouts were of the TKO variety.”

Greb threw so many punches, from so many angles and for so many hits that he would have drove today’s “punch stat” counters crazy. One of his opponent’s Pat Walsh said after their fight, “I thought somebody had opened up the ceiling and dumped a carload of boxing gloves on me.”

Harry had the proven tough chin needed to absorb the heavy punch of much larger men. In around 300 professional fights, which included dozens of bouts against heavyweights, he was stopped only twice, once in his first year of fighting, and once when he broke his forearm throwing a punch at Kid Graves. "

 

Greb was a fan static in-fighter, dirty if needed and rather smart in tactics. I don't think he'd easy to clinch, and if clinched, he has ways of getting out.

I actually think Tunney hits a bit harder than Johnson, but I do not think power alone picks the winner here. Its likely going the distance.

 

Well he beat Tunney, who is where on your list?

And you fancy Mikey Walker somewhere in the 30's if memory serves on your in depth list of all time heavies, which to me indicated you think he'd quite a few bigger men.