Kid Norfolk

mcvey · Jul 24, 2017

klompton2 said: ↑

Grebs friends and family stated after he died that his blindness was a result of the first Norfolk fight. Ive never seen that quote you mentioned from Greb and dont believe he would have said it. While he certainly had that sort of mindset (that if you got rough with him hed pay you back in kind) but he was never overt about it. When Norfolk fought Lee Anderson in Phoenix earlier that year he took a bad beating and suffered a cut over one eye and bad swelling around the other. I have heard it told, and seen it printed, that he was blind in one eye as a result. I believe his vision did suffer but im not sure as to the extant of his blindness because some sources say he retired because he went totally blind as a result the vision in his bad eye. This is a very real concern called sympathetic opthalmia which Greb was trying to prevent when he had his bad eye removed shortly before his death. Essentially the blindness spreads from the bad eye to the good eye. I know it sounds implausible but I interviewed two specialists who work with boxers for my book and they confirmed it is a very real and very frightening possibility. With all of that being said this is not why Norfolk retired because I have an interview he gave years later and he could still see at that point. BUT, given some of his answers, he seemed punchy or at the very least to have significant memory issues.

So in short, Greb was probably blinded by Norfolk, whether it was a thumb or punch who knows.

Ive never seen that quote attributed to Greb and I doubt he would have said it.

Norfolk was possibly partially blind against Greb in their first fight. Whether that is because he had a detached retina, or merely because he wasnt fully healed from the Anderson fight, is hard to say.

Think about how tough these guys were though that being blind in one eye was nothing more than an occupational hazard. In 1917 Norfolk loses to Gus Christie who later that year undergoes eye surgery. The same year Norfolk is knocked out by Langford who is blind in one eye. In 1921 Norfolk himself likely loses the sight of one eye against Lee Anderson and a few months later likely blinds Greb who two years earlier had defeated Mike Gibbons who eventually retired due to failing vision and later loses his title to Flowers who dies having his eye operated on.
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Thank you very much for your reply.The "quote ,"comes from James R Fair, an author I know you are not enamoured of it's in," The Iron City Express"The Book Of Boxing edited by WC Heinz,an author I am enamoured of.

klompton2 · Jul 24, 2017

Bill Heinz was great. Fair was awful.

louis54 · Jul 25, 2017

Heinz was great

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