Was Harry Greb considered a good defensive fighter?

[rightsideup]

He gave dempsey fits in sparring and beat tunney. Was he hard to hit?

[McGoorty]

He gave dempsey fits in sparring and beat tunney. Was he hard to hit?

He must have been somewhat difficult but his main defense was attack, without film its just silly to speculate, all we have is the written word, in Grebs case I believe he was great, dunno how he'd go Vs Darcy but that would be one MW Greb may have struggled with, to me film is simply a pre-requisite... I see some silly people rate a Mike Gibbons over Darcy when there is not a SINGLE 10 seconds of film,, that sounds US centric to the extreme... Greb's record though is not like Mike Gibbons,, it's far more impressive. ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I know Gibbons was one very good fighter, but seeing as though he actually had trouble with several guys that Darcy simply annihilated I just think its US hype,,, Pretty sure someone like Doc Kearns saw Gibbons often, yet he rated Darcy better,, hell he even rated Darcy over Walker (his own fighter)....... I am happy to see Greb in the top 3 MW's ever... but seriously Darcy does not get anywhere near the respect he earned around here, Greb does get his dues,,,,, I think to be rated a great today you simply must live longer than 21 years.... which aint fair, Les may have ended up around 299 fights too if he had lived long as Greb................................ Greb I rank about 2 or 3 as MW...... Darcy top 10...... Gibbons I have about 20th........ McGoorty top 30 and Clabby top 30 Welterweights and top 40 MW's........ Atm I still have SRR as #1 MW

[McGoorty]

He must have been somewhat difficult but his main defense was attack, without film its just silly to speculate, all we have is the written word, in Grebs case I believe he was great, dunno how he'd go Vs Darcy but that would be one MW Greb may have struggled with, to me film is simply a pre-requisite... I see some silly people rate a Mike Gibbons over Darcy when there is not a SINGLE 10 seconds of film,, that sounds US centric to the extreme... Greb's record though is not like Mike Gibbons,, it's far more impressive. ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I know Gibbons was one very good fighter, but seeing as though he actually had trouble with several guys that Darcy simply annihilated I just think its US hype,,, Pretty sure someone like Doc Kearns saw Gibbons often, yet he rated Darcy better,, hell he even rated Darcy over Walker (his own fighter)....... I am happy to see Greb in the top 3 MW's ever... but seriously Darcy does not get anywhere near the respect he earned around here, Greb does get his dues,,,,, I think to be rated a great today you simply must live longer than 21 years.... which aint fair, Les may have ended up around 299 fights too if he had lived long as Greb................................ Greb I rank about 2 or 3 as MW...... Darcy top 10...... Gibbons I have about 20th........ McGoorty top 30 and Clabby top 30 Welterweights and top 40 MW's........ Atm I still have SRR as #1 MW

Also I think Micky Walker slightly overrated at MW.. I believe he was a natural WW thats all as Micky is one of my top 10 favourite fighters, I loved the fact he fought anybody, anywhere, anytime,,, he would have fought any top 10 MW LHW or HW to ever live,,, he would not have even refused Joe Louis even though we all know how that would have turned out.... When you mention Greb I always recall Walker, even though they only fought once... that story about their late night brawl at a nightclub always surfaces.

[i_am_a_champ]

I think his defense must have been somewhat pretty good. If im not mistaken he was only KO'ed the once in 200 odd fights or so.

Also as a MW he must have been pretty damn fast as he was said to be faster than the great Benny Leonard.

And the great Jack Dempsey said that Greb would dart in , throw shots, hurl abuse and then leap out of range before Dempsey could land significant shots.


I think he must have used alot of in out/angles and movement. Its hard to hit a constantly moving target , especially one who was known to be very quick and who was known to have a lot of stamina. Add to that the fact that Greb was a volume puncher and then a picture begins to build up in your mind of just what the great Harry Greb must have looked like in the ring.


One day there shall be footage!!!!!

A truck load of it!!!