I pick Greb over Tua

Just to be clear: Do you see this as a competitive fight? A compelling matchup? Or is it more likely that Tua ends up hurting and stopping Greb in devastating fashion?

Yeah, Tua was inconsistent enough that it's easy to imagine some scenario where he comes out flat and lethargic and allows Greb to survive. It's boxing and these things happen. But it's also very easy to imagine him and Greb crashing into each other very early in the fight, followed immediately by Greb crashing into the canvas.

 

the video doesn't lie. Greb wouldn't be allowed in the ring with Tua, if he was the Moorer and Ruiz fights would look like attrition fights by comparison. Sometimes I feel like I am in the Twilight Zone on this board. How can anybody look at video of Greb and compare him to Tua?

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I'm willing to suspend my disbelief and assume that he just fought nothing like how he shadowboxes or spars in this footage (for now, anyway). But the people who were going on about how impressive Greb looks in this footage crack me up.

Still, the idea that he would be a live opponent for David Tua is nothing short of nonsensical.

 

Based on that video you wouldn't let him in the ring with half the people he beat,

 

How do you explain/assess the video? Honest question. I don't know what to make of it.

 

I think a more interesting matchup would be Greb vs Tony Galento

 

For sure.

 

It's pretty apparent that Greb if goofing off with O'Brien during that "sparring". He's smiling and dropping his guard when inside. I think he had the style that he was either turned on to 10 or not turned on at all. What you see is him goofing with an old man. What can be told from this is that he had a whirlwind style that relied a lot on his reflexes and balance and both natural and learned fighting intuitions.

That said, I don't think Greb would last long against Tua.

 

Hard to say. I think a lot of it is just him playing about. He does look pretty quick and awkward at times. I think some of the weirdness in the shadow boxing was maybe stuff for infighting. Like Seamus said the sparring obviously wasn't serious at all. He's not going to want to start ripping in and battering Jack O'Brien, who would have been 47.

The oddest part for me is him trying to do the bicycle at 3min.

It is worth remembering he had had way over 200 fights by this point and was blind in one eye.

Considering this is who he beat after this though, whatever he was doing he made it work.

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No, honestly I think that Tua would be too strong for Greb. I don't think he would destroy him in 30 seconds, but this fight would not last late rounds in my opinion.

It's not impossible for him to do so. Highly unlikely in my opinion, but not impossible.

 

Many fighters sparred for cameras much differently than they fought back then. Jack Johnson fought much differently than he sparred. Same with Jeffries. I don't know why all of them were so awkward while sparring for cameras, but it didn't show us how they fought in real fights.

 

Most modern hwts do not know how to fight. Been that way for numerous decades. Boxing is a very technical skill when done correctly.

The shorter the fight would be scheduled for the more chance Greb has of avoiding a KO blow and in turn outpointing his opponent. However at any given moment Tua could land a big one and take his 165 pound opponent out.

In a 15 round fight I give Greb very little chance. Too much time.

 

Garbage take.

 

Go spout that nonsense at your nearest decent gym.

 

the video shows less than 3 minutes of a fight but from what I saw, the short guy (Walker?) lunged a lot (never jabbed), but he did look quick, at least compared to his opponent. He was probably good for that era. But, I wouldn't show video of him to young boxers today and tell them, "try to fight like this guy." If Greb beat him, I can guess what the fight looked like, lots of wrestling, little clean punching, and no jabs. Just a guess...