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

Hi Baclava,

I'll wait until you get into the book and you can see what it and Harry have to say about his wifes death. I dont want to spoil anything for you.

You didnt have to send me any extra money. It was my fault for quoting the wrong shipping price. I took the book to the post office and the attendant gave me the original price. What he neglected to tell me was that the book would have to fit in a specific envelope to get that rate and there was no way the book was fitting in that envelope so I had to pay more.

 

Tony was a good guy. I'll miss him.

 

Klaus was a tank of a fighter with a head like a cinder block. He would bore his way inside and grip a fighter tight while banging away at the body, tugging, pulling, and wrestling to wear the opponent down. He was a punishing fighter. His problem was that he liked to party and could sometimes be lax in training. After he won recognition as champion in France his dedication waned and he was no longer the same fighter which resulted in his loss to Chip who was inferior IMO. Against Chip Klaus came in overconfident and mugged, and even opened his chin up to Chip and took punches to show how macho he was. Eventually the punishment told on him and he was stopped. He entertained a comeback off and on over the years but nothing ever came of it although he trained and mentored fighters in east Pittsburgh for years after.

 

Greb had a reputation for always giving his best in his prime (which was when he was really fighting a lot of those guys over and over). From about 1924 on he didnt always go full steam ahead in less important fights but always did enough to win. Very often throughout his career he would let up on guys so as not to hurt them too bad and to preserve his hands. A hand injury could cost him a lot of money and leave him inactive, which you see happen several times in the book. But thats about the extent of it. I dont think there was ever any agreement whether stated or implied between he and his opponents. In fact it was more common to see bad blood on the part of Greb's opponents who just couldnt accept that he could beat them and kept coming back for more. Bob Moha, Bob Roper, Chuck Wiggins, Jeff Smith, Young Fisher, Willie KO Brennan, Fay Keiser, and many many more were determined to beat him. But simply couldnt cut the mustard. Ive never really seen anything to suggest that these bouts werent on the up and up. Ive seen a few guys make comments that lead you to believe they knew they couldnt beat Greb but I dont think thats the same thing as both fighters going easy. A few of those guys said things like "Id rather fight just about anyone than Greb but they keep calling back for us." To me this illustrates that while these guys probably knew Greb was in a different class they viewed it as a job and went in there to earn their money and tried their best which made for a good fight and hence the calls for them to keep facing each other. Ive never seen anything written about a Greb fight like you see written about some of the guys like Langford, McVea, etc. where later on they were criticized for fighting more or less staged exhibitions that were publicized as actual fights. Like I said, the worst Ive seen said of Greb like that was that later on he didnt really let it all hang out when he was fighting a less important fight. Even then those reports are few and far between and he was still doing enough to stay far out in front on points.

 

Thank you. So you got it? Have you finished it? Id like to hear your thoughts.