My take on Ketchel is that he comes from an era when fighters stood in close and concentrated on head-to-head exchanges with lots of infighting, holding, wrenching of arms, and with a few toe-to-toe exchanges mixed in. I think he was great in his era because he had good balance and good footwork for a stationary puncher as evidenced by the old-time reporters who raved about his "Ketchel shift" when he evidently would slide his right foot forward (in effect turning southpaw to do it) to obtain maximum punching power with his left hook. That's all fine and dandy if you're trading punches with a stationary foe or if you are lucky enough to time the move just as a fighter is coming in, but against a jack rabbit like Greb, who was always jumping around, left and right, in and out, and up and down, and who knew all the tricks, it just was never gonna work.
Good post and I agree. A lot of formidable punchers lose their pop when facing a shifty, mobile foe who hits and moves. From the sounds of things Greb would be drilling him all night long.
Over 15 rounds Greb probably wins a decision, over 45 rounds I really don't know. Greb would obviously win most of the rounds but would he tire late on & get caught. I like one of the above comments calling Ketchel Feral, I think that's a great description of Stan.
If it's a fight to the finish... maybe... maybe Ketchel might pull something out... under most circumstances.... Greb easily outpoints him
Greb would win 12-13 of the 15 rounds, and possibly stop Ketchel. Ketchel is very wide open and sloppy on film.
Ketchells early demise courtesy of 'lead poisoning' at age 24 hinders the comparison with Greb, as Greb had not even won a World title by time he was 24. So question is would Ketchell have improved enough if Ketchell and Greb were matched at same stages in their careers?. I would favour Greb to prevail, however being ringside to watch such a bout would be well worth the ticket price that is for sure.
IBRO ranks him 3rd at middleweight (behind Greb and Robinson). Callis has him #2 at middleweight (after Fitz)… and 7th all-time p4p. If anything, he's OVERrated, imo!
Yes aware, but syphillis would not have been any part of the decline at age of 24, as for the opium pipe well that crap is going to mess up a athlete. So it goes down to prime Ketchell vs Greb when both fit, i still think Greb prevails.
So the stories go yes indeed, but as in so much of boxing history, we will never truly know, that rapid piece of .22 lead put the full stop to the matter.
Hard to see anyone beating Greb so I think he takes the nod which would be competitive. Nat Fleicher thought Ketchel was special and he was a banger and top 10 ATG middleweight
