It is undeniable that Greb beat several men that received title shots from Dempsey whilst he did not.. How would he have fared had he stepped in the ring with 3 of Dempsey's opponents that he did not face, time scales permitting Willard,Firpo,and Fulton? Also how would he have done had he fought 2 others that Dempsey did not fight ,ie Wills and Godfrey? NB These were all big heavyweights and Harry would be conceding a lot of poundage and height could he have success among them?
I know you can look at records and take a guess who would beat who but it's so hard for me to answer questions like this with him when noooooo freaking footage of any of his fights exist. It kills me. Still hoping something turns up one day
Depends a lot on the distance and timescale I think. Looking at who he beat he could probably beat all of them on a one off. But it's a hard ask to repeatedly face fighters that much bigger than yourself for 15 rounds or more. Considering they were all reputed punchers I think he might have picked up a stoppage loss against one of them. But more often than not he would probably come out victorious. Wills would have been a heavy favorite to beat him in my book, and I also give Fulton a good chance. His main weakness seems to have been his chin, and I doubt Greb had the power to dent it. He likely had the stamina to outrun and outhustle slow Willard for 15 rounds, and was to good to fall for Firpo's wild swings.
Greb, in a 6-8rds might have out slapped them around but over the longer haul, who knows. The problem for Greb is the strength, weight and power. None of these guys would have had any fear of getting hit, cos as we know Greb dont punch. so with nothing to hold them back, they would be free to rough him up and if they landed with those 6oz gloves with 200+pds behind them and by guys who knew how to hit, that alone is major factor. In clinches, wrestling with a '70-75pd guy is different then wrestling a 200+pd guy, the strength alone would be punishing enough add the weight and the power, makes it very difficult for Greb. All those guys would be too slow for Greb, but let them grab him in a clinch, that's where the punishment begins. Greb was fighting all the "HW's", if so he was fighting the smaller HW's, cos he could have fought these guys but didnt, I wonder why? Maybe Greb and company were wiser then we are, cos as Dempsey never fought him, Greb never fought them and for the same reason HE WAS TOO DARN SMALL.
No opinion on the rest of them off the top of my head, but I think Fulton's a terrible matchup for Greb. As LouisA alluded to, Fred was a bit of a glass cannon. That's not going to do Greb much good when he doesn't hit hard enough to exploit the glass part.
I think that he would have found these guys tougher propositions than the Dempsey opponents that he did fight. The reach of guys like Willard, Fulton, and Wills would have given them something to counter his speed with.
