Henry Armstrong vs Harry Greb. Who’s the greatest pressure Boxer ever?

I'd personally take Greb, but Hank has an argument to go above anybody. It's pretty hard to truly argue for either in the entire scope of both of their careers. It's just a huge, loaded question, as both of these guys were unbelievably great. This is interpreting the question as: "Who of these two pressure fighters is greater", as in, career wise.

In terms of who was better at pressuring, it's not possible to answer IMO. Simply due to the lack of footage.

 

Both were excellent of course. I probably lean Greb but Hank is right there with him. Also Roberto Duran may have been the most technical or sophisticated pressure fighter with his defensive genius and his controlled aggression.

 

Show me some films of both of them in fights an I will decide otherwise how am I gonna pick one?

 

You can't bet against someone like Greb, but I can't imagine anyone looking clearly better at pressuring his opponent as Armstrong.

 

With no film of Greb it's speculation at best. Looking at the fight records and judging by stories of Greb at the time I'd rank Greb higher than Armstrong all time and that's no knock against Hank as he was fantasitic

 

Hi George.
So from the huge amount I have read of Greb over the last 50 years , including all the books, and articles in various mags such as The Ring, Boxing Illustrated, Boxing News, and the actual fight reports from the newspapers of the time, it would appear Harry was not in fact a " pressure fighter " well not in the manner of the aforementioned Armstrong, or a Frazier, or maybe Chavez even, he was in fact more of a, well its hard to describe, his style !! consisted of manic forward rushes frantic in fighting arms wailing away at unnatural speed , beating a tattoo on almost every part of the opponents torso, THEN and this is the pertinent piece, would pull away and circle the poor guy for a few seconds, before resuming the incessant onslaught , so not really a constant pressure fighter in the strict sense of the word .
Over the decades I have tried to composite a fighter to that might have fought like Harry and of course there has never been one, nor will there be, he was and remains unique, the best I have come up with is a amalgam of , Hamed, Hudkins, Joe Galzage and Pryor.
Hope the above doesn't come across as condescending ? but felt the younger or newer members might benefit from a steer on Grebs actual style, rather than his perceived , that's all . stay safe guys.

 

That's a good evaluation, Mike. I do think Greb was more of a slapper of epic proportions, sort of a mini Calzaghe as you note. Punches in bunches, not punches to ko you.

 

Armstrong looks much better on film.

 

Thanks for the shout out buddy, stay safe.

 

We don't have any filmed Greb fight though.