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

Finished it a few weeks back, absolutely excellent. I went in thinking I knew a little about Greb's era...boy was I astonished at the details of this book. All that I can say is this was of best books I've read in years, and I look forward to your documentary, and anything else you might have in the works. Cheers!

 

I came across this video and Sylvester Stallone says Harry Greb is his all time favorite fighter - he even mentions the Tunney fights and seems to be very knowledgeable. Maybe he would "tweed" your book on twitter or something?
Time mark 13 minutes 50 seconds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujv9W23I8BY

 

I'm looking forward to reading this myself. I mentioned it in passing to my wife the other week and she showed some interest. I'm hoping there will be a copy in my Christmas stocking.

 

Sweet.

Nice to know that Stallone really is a student of the game.

Still won't see this shitpile of a movie.

 

Harry Greb was a badass. The only annoying thing about him is that we don't have any fight footage to watch of him.

 

What can I say that hasn't been said already? It's fantastic. I loved every page. It's "everything there will ever be to know about Harry Greb" and then some. It's the final word. I really admire the passion, perseverance and hard work that went into this. Definitely a labor of love across the board, which is something I can really appreciate.

The book really captured the times in a way that completely absorbed me. With WW I raging in the background we get to follow Harry throughout his high velocity life. Every moment seemed to need to be filled for him or his head would explode. You had to admire that kind of energy. How he managed to stay so focused on boxing and build his life around it is something that you just don't see today, where pugilism is nothing more than a lucrative pastime to be engaged in a couple times per year.

With so many fights to cover, Compton was faced with the daunting task of trying to make each fight report something worth reading. The risk of redundancy and regurgitated phrasing must have presented a gargantuan obstacle to overcome. Amazingly, the author manages to accomplish a way of presenting each fight in a fresh and interesting manner. By the way, the description of the Greb-Walker fight was exhausting. No newspaper account of any fight has ever pulled me in deeper than that. Very gripping and vivid.

One definitely walks away with a bit less respect for Gene Tunney, Johnny Wilson, Mike McTigue and Al McCoy (not that there was much for McCoy in the first place). Their out of the ring demands, tippy-toeing and straight up circumventions get tiresome after awhile. In light of that, one really begins to appreciate and respect the fighting ethics of men like Greb, Benny Leonard, Jeff Smith and Mike Gibbons, all of whom would fight anyone at any time, didn't drag their feet or make prima donna demands.

I hated to see this ride end.

 

Theoretical Question:
Let's say the unthinkable happens and of all grandmums, klompton's grandma moves things around in her attic some day and guess what she finds leaning in some corner: Greb vs Tunney and Greb vs Walker on nitrate film.
Steve, what would you do with the footage after transfering it?

 

finished the book last night....christ that was enjoyable.....i might read it all over again.
loved the little small sub stories too on the background of some of the boxers greb fought....bob roper in the ring with greb and a snake "keep that serpent away from me !!"

what a wonderful read.

 

only one i really felt like that about was mctigue
he won his title here on st patricks night against battling siki...but like the book describes him he was a very defensive boxer....almost afraid looking....ashamed to say siki got mugged when he came here.

amazing how the cards fell for the likes of mctigue and wilson and greb had to wait and graft so long to get to a middleweight shot.

 

One enjoyable feature about the Live Fast, Die Young book is that there are descriptions of
certain opponents of Harry Greb who were club fighters or journeymen. In so many other
biographies of boxers, such fighters are virtually ignored.

- Chuck Johnston

 

yes...and does so in a subtle way as book progresses...you never feel like it ever divertes away from the top of greb
some great sub-stories.