Harry Greb's fighting style

Well he kept coming forward and set a relentless pace. He digged in with relatvely hurtful punches from all angles, and could on top of his opponent and smothered them. His hand speed apparently was very good, although he may have often not sat down on his punches. I say this because his KO ratio is pretty low and he fought often and threw plenty of punches, and so probably protected his hands.

When he wanted to punch though, it seems like he had more than enough power to, such as his first round destruction of Gunboat Smith. Physically very strong aswell, which allowed him to fight inside with these usually far bigger guys.

And he by all accounts had a granite chin that meant he could walk through most things thrown at him. If I would sum up his style, he seems to be a real rhythm breaker, to such a degree that he overwhelmed Tunney and prevented Gene from finding his range and establishing his jab. Defensively I haven't hard much of an account of him in terms of how well he defended himself, but he does seem to have had a crouching type style.

Unfortunately though, the subtleties of his fighting style aren't really around. It does seem that by all accounts, he was just an incredibly active swarmer, incredibly active, and that he broke his opponents rhythm, set the pace and made them fight his fight, where he could overwhelm them with punches from all angles.

 

Based on what I've read I wouldn't say he was "always coming forward". They say he was never in the same spot for any length of time, always popping around, throwing punches from all angles, which is why he was such a rhythm breaker. Supposedly he could box very well when the situation called for it as well. His speed and fast feet made him very difficult to time. In his sparring sessions with Dempsey that's exactly how he was supposed to have picked him apart. I'd say he fought a bit like Pryor based on what I've read.

 

Hey there, bman. You remind me of myself in a few ways. One, I rate Sugar Ray Robinson as #1 pound for pound and Harry Greb a close second.

Two, recently over the last few months have been on a HARRY GREBathon, meaning I have been trying to find out everything I possibly can about the great Pittsburgh Windmill. I am almost finished with "The Fearless Harry Greb" and it is a great read. I even did a thread recently about this reoccuring dream I had about watching Harry Greb fight footage.

Three, my last name is bman (Beamon). Anyway, there are many articles out there that describe many qualities of Greb's style. I don't know what you have read and haven't read, so I will refer you to HarryGreb.com.

 

Here's what Gene Tunney said about Greb's style:


He was never in one spot for more than half a second, 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.
– Gene Tunney

 

Its heartbreaking that theres no footage of Greb when theres footage of much older guys in action (Johnson and Jeffries)

 

sounds abit like Roberto Duran to me

 

more specifically, Duran of the Buchanan fight

 

It never fails! At the mere mention of Harry Greb, out comes the #1 Greb hater of all time.....Pachilles.

I have never read anyone comparing Greb and Duran. Maybe you are comparing them because Greb and Duran probably get more props from posters on this site than other fighters. One thing that is evident in Greb's fight pictures is that he dipped, bobbed and weaved. Moving at all times. Duran was always on the move, but I don't think stylistically they are very similar. Anyway, have a nice day, Pachilles. :good

 

"He could hit from impossible angles. Once, after Harry missed a right to my face, he spun all the way around so that his back faced me. I relaxed my guard and waited for him to turn around. But before I knew what was happening, his left was stuck in my mouth. I still don't know how he did it, but he hit me while his hands faced in the opposite direction."
– Mickey Walker

The fastest fighter I ever saw. Hell. Greb is faster than Benny Leonard.
– Jack Dempsey

 

What the ****, Abdul?:blood

I'm serious. That description Tunney gave and considering Buchanan's and Tunney's styles, these two clashes sound very comparable to me. Duran pressuring the counter-puncher, throwing punches from all angles, perhaps not at a relentless pace, but a consistently spoiling one. Turning him with the hooks, maybe swap the accurate power shots of Duran, for Leonard-like flurries instead. The picture i get from those quotes is his relentless combinations are abit dramatised and exaggerrated. The fact that its quoted that he could box good when he needed to, suggesting that his style maybe a little misunderstood and hes not just an ultra aggressive, also fits a comparsion to Duran. Getting up close and pressuring but dancing around on the inside, punching from angles, turning his opponent, only trading some power for volume instead, he sounds very much like Duran, imo.

 

Although he's only mugging for the camera when sparring with O'Brien, or playing handball, I think we can extrapolate a few ideas about how he must have looked in competition. He was always bouncing on his toes, moving in and out, and peppering his opponents with sheer volume, not expending much energy by loading up on his punches. There is some correlation between the Greb-O'Brien footage and what published accounts of his typical style indicates.

 

actually there is footage of Greb sparring and doing light shadowboxing that exists; however, no fight footage exists

but I would assume Greb was a non stop pressure fighter who was tough as nails and from the sparring footage I saw I would say he had a awkward style which may have been difficult for his opponents to solve.

 

No footage of Greb, yet we know he exists. Pictures but no film. Several first hand accounts describing a nigh unstoppable force with great speed. Sound familiar? It's obvious that Grebs was an extra-terrestrial. His very existence has been smothered by an immense and far-reaching conspiracy. I rest my case.