Opinions..Could Harry Greb have actually beaten Jack Dempsey?

How many rounds? Fat Willie Meehan had no problem turning the trick over 4 rounds.

 

If you were Gene Tunney, you could get back to back 10 rounds championship fights.

There was a time when Greb might have been able to pip him but the circumstances would have had to been perfect. Not sure I would have bet on it. Bottom line is that he did beat Brennan (5 times?), Gibbons, Miske and well, Tunney himself (tho lost to him as time wore on). That gives him some cred in this discussion.

 

He also beat Langford over 4 rds

 

Dempsey have size advantage & power.

Prime 4 prime dempsey.

 

I agree Dempsey would be favoured, but I don't know if his size would be particularly helpful as an advantage, he usually enjoyed fighting taller opponents

 

This is what I've always thought. Greb might well pip him in a shorter fight but that Dempsey would impose his size and power the longer the fight went on. I put a fair amount of weight on the sparring performance because Dempsey famously used to shred his sparring partners so Greb doing well in sparring him is not far off fighting the real article. I think I pick Greb in a fight 8 rounds or less.

 

Greb beat him in sparring, yes.

But a title bout is different, and at his peak I'd have to go with Dempsey over 15. Even then, I have doubts he could KO Greb.

Greb would also make Jack look bad at the beginning.

 

No, not over the title distance of 15 and over.

 

It is genuinely hard to say.

Greb was obviously capable of winning rounds against Dempsey, and he seems to have been almost impossible to stop for the men that he actually fought.

Then again Dempsey was one of the greatest if not the greatest finisher of all time, and you have to think that in a fifteen round fight, he might well have what it took to turn the trick.

I would be genuinely intrigued to see how this one might have resolved itself!

 

Dempsey KO 2!!!! Real fight is for real.

 

Amen my Bro!!! That's the way I call it...and to hell with those "gym wars"...

 

That's ok,...it wouldn't have gone anywhere as long as that...Dempsey by ko in 1 or 2....Good thing for Greb's mystique that the fight never happened.

 

If it was for the world heavyweight title, I imagine people would be incredibly excited for it.

However, I think it would end similar to Tyson-Spinks, especially if the pre-fight coverage was all about Greb dominating Dempsey in a couple rounds of sparring and it got personal.

Spinks beat great fighters. Spinks beat bigger heavyweights. Spinks had an awkward style. Didn't matter.

I think Dempsey would come out raging and overwhelm him.