Live Fast, Die Young: The Life and Times of Harry Greb

The best McFarland beat were likely Britt and Welsh, and they happened to draw with him. More than once in the case of Welsh. Depends on which news paper you are looking at.

A top 30ish p4p guy for me. Is there any clear film on him?

 

Well done Klomp...I love this era of boxing. Great to see someone so passionate going that extra mile and publishing a book on their hero. I know you've heard this time and time again but I believe a Greb - Les Darcy fight would've been brutal with either man capable of winning...both to silly and or tough to be knocked out...would've went the distance in a blood bath...but my heart lies with the legend Darcy though....in my eyes there were no better. Congrats again dedicating the time to pen the book on a legend not only of his era but of all time

 

They never revealed any further details than two names in the book. And they state that both losses took place in 1904, whereas the well-known Dusty Miller bout took place on Nov 16, 1903. Makes me doubt their claim.

 

This makes me wonder... why have we never had a Greb vs Darcy debate here on Classic?

 

nah I don't think it would cause any interest:lol99

Just on that Darcy/Greb thread by the way...i'm only a newbie here but I took a look at it the other day and WOW....wasn't there some carry on!!

Love the passion though...

 

Got the Hardcover copy of your book Wednesday. It is HUGE. When I opened the package, I couldn't beleive the sheer size of the book. I have hundreds of books on boxing, baseball, football, etc. this by far the biggest bio I have. It is almost a Greb encyclopedia. The pictures alone are worth the price I paid. My one question is, when I went to the publishers page, it says 2006. Is this the original publishing date? I plan to start reading it today. It is a beautiful looking book I gotta say.





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So far it is a terrific book. I'm up to where he just fought T. Gibbons the first time. I really enjoy the fight reports and the pictures just add to being able to visualize the you describe. I always enjoy reading when the author can put the reader back in the times, in this case the teens of the twentieth century, in which the story takes place. Wish I was living back there now and at these fights. I also like that forgotten fighters such as those in the Pitts area get a light on them. Now, if you are not a super champ, you are nothing. but contenders and tough regional fighters are the backbone of the sport. Or were, when fighters fought a lot. And 3 a times year is not a lot.

 

I agree with Stonehammerjack that the book is awesome because it is a journey back in time and all these fight reports give you a real feel for that time. What a precious piece of boxing literature....

What I want to know Steve is that if you had contact with family members of Greb. Because I imagined the first thing you must have tried is contact his great-grandchildren or so to talk to them and find out if they can tell you stories about Harry Greb. But I imagine it is very hard to find those family members and maybe they do not know a lot of stories.
Would also be cool if the book contained a few stories of his personal life. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but so far not a lot of personal stories are involved, it is mostly about his fights and the rivalries Greb had.

 

Amen to all of this. The way the fights are described I feel like I have a ringside seat. Between that and the next-day reports which back it all up we get a very clear picture of how Greb fought. When it's this unanimous it's hard to fall back on the tired cliche' "Well, we don't have film of him so we can't rate him..." Garbage.

Stonehammer's other points are spot-on as well. Such comments spur me on to finish my own book on Pittsburgh boxing history.

Everyone shoud order this Greb book. You're missing out if you haven't.

 

I have a copy of Give Him To the Angels & the best thing about it is the photo on the front. Very much looking forward to getting a copy of this one.

 

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