Serious thoughts on this Harry Greb shadow boxing video?

Film don’t lie.

 

You are unsurpassed at combining optics and music in ways that excite classic fight fans and make them feel warm inside. You have a knack for figuring out what they like to see and you deliver it very adeptly. Combined with the music and editing and atmospherics, the footage can be riveting and entertaining, regardless of the skill level involved or any glaring technical flaws. It’s a legit talent for which there is clearly a sizeable audience.

But you are deluding yourself if you think that the follower count is some testament to your depth of understanding of the nuances of the sport. That’s an almost entirely different ability.

 

I am now curious whether Reznick could create a riveting and impressive highlight reel of Youtube's consensus "worst boxers of all time" videos. (Zelenoff, The Shadow, Jimmy Smith, Brian Sutherland, etc.)

I'm actually going to side with Reznick on this one, and say that you need to look reasonably good for your highlight reel to impress people.

 

Not with those guys, but he absolutely could make one for someone like Butterbean or any number of unimpressive boxers if he put his heart into it. The only essentials are a few instances where they slip punches, a few seconds here and there when they move their feet like pro boxers, a handful of jabs, some head blows and knockdowns, and sufficient supplemental materials (training footage, closeups, etc.). Wouldn't be one of his more popular videos but it would still draw plenty of rave reviews and "his skills are so underrated!" type comments.

 

Neither do results

 

Look, folks, Greb beat most of anyone who mattered in his generation from middleweight to heavyweight (or at least scared them sufficiently not to meet him in the ring). If you are going base an indictment of him on a few short training or warming up or goofing around clips, then you are indicting the whole era. So don't base your argument on Greb, base it on the state of the boxing produced from 1915 till 1926. That's where you argument immediately proceeds given the pelts on Greb's record. If you hide from the latter argument, then you haven't made the former.

 

Good fundamentals my ass. You need new contact lenses.

Again, Grebs results dont lie. In the end thats what matters. Mickey Walker looks great on film fighting from welterweight to heavyweight. Greb kicked his ass and left him in tears, LITERALLY. Tunney looks great on film. Greb left him a bloody mess that had to led out of the arena by handlers because he was so beat up. Jeff Smith looks great on film. Greb dominated in something like 6 of 7 fights. Tommy Loughran looks great on film. Like Walker Loughran cried after his fight with Greb. Cried ****ing tears! A fighter! Kid Norfolk looks great on film. Greb was battering Norfolk in a corner when their fight ended, sent him to hospital for a week and forced the cancellation of his scheduled matches for the next two months (Greb fought the following week). Tommy Gibbons looks great on film. Greb dominated him over 15 rounds in front of one of the largest indoor gates in history to that point. If you can somehow resolve a fighter being garbage with being able to not just beat but absolutely clobber those hall of fame all time greats then you have one hell of an imagination.

 

im an editor not a magician

 

I am convinced that I needed a soundtrack!

 

Alternatively, they could pursue their earlier argument that Greb's fights against Tunney, Walker, Smith, Loughran, Norfolk, Gibbons, sparring with Dempsey, and further fights with Delaney, Slattery, Moody, Ratner, O'Dowd, and Brennan were all fixed.

 

That's what Joseph Goebbels said

 

And yet Mayorga did not fight like he shadowboxed....most don't once in the ring

 

This thread really separates the wheat from the chaf....in the obvious impression one can draw that by that clip one can judge a fighter shows lack of experience and time around fighters
I'm
Reminds me of the flip side of the impressions the arm chair experts have ascertained....every boxing match, tournament etc...has the old pads intimidation going on for all to see...popping jabs, rights, uppercuts and hooks POP POP POP POP like shotgun blasts cracking in the air this is really big in amateur fights where fighters are literally standing in the wings by the ring after gloving....so many times the guys who look and sound great get in the ring and look like crap....you would think they had never fought before...the best guys had also sorts of wierd punching warm-ups...Olian Alexander threw just jabs nothing else.....Vince Phillips never punched hard he just touched and threw slow. It only makes sense if you have seen all the different things fighters do....never judge a fighter by anything less than how he fights in a ring

 

Don't be pompous. I've trained amateurs and pros and been around gyms from my teens in the early 1980s until I moved away from it about 15 years ago.

He looks horrible, amateurish and downright ridiculous in the film we do have.

He beat some good fighters. How good? Some of them great, some of them are "Hall of Famers" because they have to keep putting in old-timers and just about everyone who did anything in a small pool gets some recognition over time.

Are many of those as good as what I see in Robinson's era. Not from the film I've seen. The sport has evolved.

Is Greb greater than Robinson? You can argue by resume. We don't know since we have no real sample on film, but that shadowboxing looks like the Three Stooges trained him. To say differently is to deny your own eyes.

 

Agreed...that's what I think he's doing...hey, these guys can point at these filmed episodes and snicker,...and I'll point to his resume...somebody named Greb beat Loughran,Tunney, Walker, et al...