The Greb Myth: Why do people still believe Greb existed?

Seventy years ago, people didn't know any better but to believe in Greb. The internet didn't exist. People got all their boxing opinions from Nat Fleischer and Sugar. They were simple people.

But thanks to the efforts of honest and clear eyed historians like @Journeyman92, the cracks have finally broken in the narrative.

Why do people keep clinging to Greb now, though? It's sad to see Greb historicizers desperately reciting the same old arguments for Greb's existence, like a catechism.

"Greb appears in photographs."

"Greb had a birth certificate."

"Greb is attested in thousands of newspaper reports."

...All pathetic nonsense, of course, to explain away the fact that this supposedly legendary fighter -- RENOWNED in his time -- never appears on surviving film. We have Tunney, who supposedly fought Greb. Dempsey, who supposedly had a sparring session with Greb (no doubt a later addition to the Greb mythos, to tie him in with the infamous Manassa Mauler). But somehow, no Greb.

I demand proof. Either somebody posts a YouTube clip right now of a Greb fight, or he never existed. And don't try to post that supposed sparring footage. The actor playing "Greb" in that film obviously couldn't box a lick.

Either post the film, or admit that Greb was a myth invented by newspapermen like Fleischer to sell papers, just like Marvin Hart and alleged President Millard Fillmore were.

 

Not an unreasonable reaction.

 

I once believed as you did, before people on r/GrebWasALie taught me to think rationally about the alleged Pittsburgh Windmill.

Harry Greb was about as real as Harry Potter, @roughdiamond. All the newspaper stories, photos, government documents, interviews, books, firsthand written accounts, gravestones, locations, artifacts, and surviving family members were either faked, or can be explained by natural processes.

 

Hearsay! All of it hearsay, from a man who had a vested interest in convincing people he'd fought and "beaten" this legendary Greb figure. Evidence of Greb is always some guy claiming to have seen him.