“I wouldn’t say he was soiled a lot as he was expedient. He was so wanting to get the injury carried out that his head and shoulders went with a punch. He was a quick and livid man. Chuck Wiggins nevertheless, was a actual soiled fighter, a reckless character. He didn’t care what he did.” –Tommy Loughran
“He has been criticized significantly these days for his ring performances. I attribute that largely to the peculiar fashion he makes use of and never any deliberate intent to foul.” —Mike Gibbons
“I categorically state that Harry Greb was not a foul fighter. In my first battle with him my nostril was damaged. My seconds mentioned that Greb butted me along with his head. This I don’t settle for as factual; and if his head was the weapon, somewhat than his fists, my head shouldn’t have been the place it was.” –Gene Tunney
When boxing historians catalogue the “dirtiest” fighters of all-time, Harry Greb’s title at all times appears to make the listing, often within the high 5, proper alongside such well-known foulsters as Sandy Saddler, Mysterious Billy Smith (undoubtedly the king of all-time filthy fighters), and fellow Pittsburgher Fritzie Zivic. However does he actually deserve it? Is Greb’s place amongst boxing’s sinister elite a justifiable one? Was he in truth a grimy fighter, or is it a nasty rap? The query bears a deeper examination.
Most of Greb’s popularity for being a grimy fighter comes from the sensationalized and myth-filled e book by James Honest, entitled Give Him to the Angels, a piece so filled with exaggerations and outright lies that it was pulled from the cabinets after just one printing as a consequence of threats of lawsuits by Greb’s household. Regardless, the injury was carried out; the falsehoods within the e book had been dedicated to reminiscence and handed all the way down to succeeding generations of battle followers who had nowhere else to go to get info on the late “Pittsburgh Windmill.”
However we stay in a time when detailed info on Greb from firsthand sources is available to all who search it. Many opponents acknowledged for the report that Greb was extra tough than soiled, and a more in-depth have a look at his profession reveals that not solely was Harry not one of many high 5 soiled fighters of all-time, however he could not have even been one of many high 5 soiled fighters of his time. However the decrease weight divisions, there have been three fighters at light-heavyweight and heavyweight alone who outstripped Harry within the space of foul preventing, they being Chuck Wiggins, Child Norfolk and Captain Bob Roper.
All issues added up, these charming gents boasted a mixed 19 disqualification losses amongst them as a consequence of soiled preventing. Greb himself had just one and that in opposition to Norfolk, who was a de facto soiled fighter and who many really feel ought to have been the one thrown out of the ring that evening, not Greb.
It’s typically conceded that the blindness in Harry’s proper eye was attributable to thumbs in his bouts with Norfolk and Roper. Norfolk was thought to have began the injury of their 1921 swatfest and Greb complained of blurred imaginative and prescient following the match. However it was a yr later, after preventing Roper, that Greb was seen sporting patches over each eyes following his nasty bout with the Captain.
It was shortly after these battles that Greb turned extra noticeably responsible of the “soiled” cost positioned upon him, principally as a consequence of his incessant holding and hitting. This was little question as a consequence of Harry having misplaced his depth notion due to his blind eye, and he needed to have a hand on his opponent as a way to find him correctly for a blow. All in all, it’s wonderful {that a} half-blind fighter can have as a lot success as Greb did.
It’s additionally value noting, as Gibbons did, that Greb’s fashion was a significant factor on this. His erratic, if not reckless, mode of boxing and techniques of continuous aggression little question resulted in some unintended fouls. How may that not occur sometimes, given the best way Greb fought? As I wrote in an earlier article: “Harry was most frequently described as a ‘wildcat,’ as a consequence of his boundless aggression, and as a ‘kangaroo’ due to his occasional leaping assault and retreat techniques.”
That mentioned, the actual fact stays that matchless pace, unbelievable stamina, limitless creativeness and uncanny improvisational expertise — amongst many different attributes — must be Harry Greb’s legacy within the sport, not exaggerated costs of soiled preventing taken from nebulous sources reminiscent of apocryphal autopsy biographies penned solely to make an affordable buck. The parable-busting info is on the market if one is focused on understanding the reality in regards to the conqueror of Walker, Loughran, Flowers and Tunney, a boxer who is certainly one of many biggest of all-time, pound-for-pound.
— Douglas Cavanaugh
