Harry Greb vs. Rocky Marciano

I agree Burt, and I've never heard the 40''s and 50's described as such.

 

as far as eras goes i agree with mike silver the greatest generation of boxing was the 2os thru the 50s. one could make a stong case for 30s and 40s as far as decades go, but the champs of the 20s may have been off the hook as burt mentioned, nevertheless alot of the woods were full of top boxers until after ww11 when it started to drop off abit, and contined to do so compared to between the wars.
marciano greb - marciano in sceduled 15 rounds by ko imo

 

This I might agree with Greb might avoid him for 8-10 IMO Rocky just hurts him somewhere someway somehow no discretion I just don't see Greb defending his akward indiscreet targeting.

 

Scientific boxers always have trouble with mobile swarmers like Greb, Marciano gave a **** about being scientific like Tunney he was a pure killer who cared not where he hit you. God forbid Greb hits Rocky and can't hurt him then Rocky moves in throwing hard punch after hard punch until he can land.

 

tick, full marks, absolutely correct and the fight conclusion too. :good

 

I Love both these guys but I truly have to laugh at the Marciano naysayers who are always equipped with creative fantasy in the ways Marciano would lose but give Greb the 160lber 5"8 70 inch reach (who was a fair puncher at best) chances to beat well known heavyweight punchers such as Dempsey, Marciano, etc. Harry is one of my favorites but I have to laugh at the double standard

 

Let's look at the facts:

The only time Dempsey and Greb shared a ring, Greb abused him.

Dempsey faced the following fighters after winning the title. Greb beat them all beforehand. Miske, Brennan, Gibbons, Darcy, Tunney.

Greb faced and beat big punchers such as Gibbons, Miske, Norfolk and Brennan, beating Brennan badly multiple times, a Brennan who had Dempsey in deep trouble.

Greb was avoided by Dempsey. There is no way to soft pedal this fact. Greb was at worst the second best contender for the heavyweight title throughout much of Dempsey's reign. The powers that be wanted nothing doing with this match.

Also, Greb was not 160 for his non-middleweight matches. He hovered just above or just below 170. Considering that Dempsey, by his own admission, was 180 for his title winning effort.

 

There isn't any question that Harry Greb deserved a shot at Jack Dempsey's world heavyweight title more than Billy Miske, Bill Brennan, Georges Carpentier, Tommy Gibbons, Luis Firpo, and even Gene Tunney. Heck! Greb may have deserved a shot more than the longtime heavyweight contender, Harry Wills, who certainly should have gotten a shot.

I thought it was interesting that Carpentier wouldn't agree to a defense of his world light-heavyweight title in a bout with Greb despite being offered a then-astronomical purse of $150,000. by Tex Rickard. Such a purse would have been only $50,000. less than the one that Carpentier received for his world heavyweight title bout with Dempsey.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Greb and Dempsey sparred 4 times and not all were one sided I think two were seen as such but they were extremely short I think 3 rounds. And most accounts essentially say that Dempsey just could not catch him which as I understand was normal to hire small fast fighters to condition a heavyweight. The thing of note that makes me think Marciano was a different challenge for Greb was that Dempsey was noted as winded after 3 rounds with Greb though he went on the spar 2 other partners. Marciano would not be winded his conditioning is stuff of legend and Greb though a phenom doesn't have the strength to keep Rocky off. Greb was known for turning up the heat the longer the fight goes when his opponent tired. Can anyone see Marciano tiring? I can't see this happening. Rocky was able to cut the ring off and draw people into him to fight him if little Greb is going to hit Rocky he has to be close enough to be hit back eventually.

 

I have seen the heavyweight dynamo that was Rocky Marciano ringside and training
close up, and I can never forget the thudding power of his grenades to all parts of
his opponents torso...A larger edition of Henry Armstrong. TIRELESS !.
But we can never sell short Harry Greb, whose exploits in the ring sound surreal....No fighter in history had a style like Harry Greb, who seemed to do the impossible, time and again....When in trouble he had the greatest set of wheels to escape danger,and was
at his best, almost impossible to hit solidly....Some old boxing writer described Harry
Greb's style thusly, "like a man who just escaped from his straight jacket ". A windmill
with unlimited stamina, always on the attack...Would he beat a Marciano ? Who can really tell, but he would have a much better chance than any middleweight in history, because
of his unbounding handspeed and footspeed....Of all the fighters in history, Greb is the one fighter I want to see in the hopeful world to come....

 

Off drunken hand, i knoe of two times they sparred, in michigan prior to miske and in new jersey. Both times greb thrashed dempsey, busting his lip and nailibg hin to the body i will recheck these sources after the holiday. Klompton would knpw better than anyone.

 

Greb himself said he would not want to be in the ring with Dempsey for more than 6 rounds and it was sparring. I remember back in the 70's watching 165lb middleweight 5"7 Tom "the Bomb" Bethea beat the dog crap out of 6"5 280lb Leroy Jones (who fought Holmes) so I know what can happen in sparring especially when there are no chips on the table.

Does anyone really think any of the mentioned above would get past a 33 year old Ezzard Charles, Moore and Walcott if you do thats your answer.

[/quote]


I am wild about Harry but the beast he would be facing in Marciano, relentless pressure and power I believe he would need more than a windmill, there were no Marciano's in those days but I am afraid we would be expecting too much for Harry here and at 5'8 and 170, even Marciano would have 18lbs of pure muscle and 3 inches of height...I know that size IS USUALLY A BIG FACTOR IN YOUR COMPUTATIONS, not mine but in this case it may be "the shotgun that kills the rabbit instead of the pellet gun"

don't get me wrong Harry may be the best 160-175lber to live and may have the best shot against big men but this is a strong request for him to answer

 

I am wild about Harry but the beast he would be facing in Marciano, relentless pressure and power I believe he would need more than a windmill, there were no Marciano's in those days but I am afraid we would be expecting too much for Harry here and at 5'8 and 170, even Marciano would have 18lbs of pure muscle and 3 inches of height...I know that size IS USUALLY A BIG FACTOR IN YOUR COMPUTATIONS, not mine but in this case it may be "the shotgun that kills the rabbit instead of the pellet gun"

don't get me wrong Harry may be the best 160-175lber to live and may have the best shot against big men but this is a strong request for him to answer[/quote]

of course it is and it is the only answer Bummy. Agreed! :deal

 

I think Greb headbutted Dempsey splitting his tongue

 

You morons!

Lets be realistic.

Harry Greb would get KTFO by Rocky. Why? Because Rocky is bigger, hits harder, has 15-round stamina, and Greb just doesn't have enough power or strength to stop Rocky from fighting his fight.