Edward Henry Harry Greb from Pittsburgh (June 6, 1894–October 22, 1926) was an American professional boxer. He was the World Middleweight Champion from 1923 to 1926 and the American Light Heavyweight Champion from 1922 to 1923. He fought a recorded 303 times in his 13 year-career, against the best opposition the talent-rich 1910s & 20s could provide him, frequently squaring off against light heavyweights and even heavyweights. Widely considered one of the best fighters of all time, Greb was named the 7th greatest fighter of the past 80 years by The Ring Magazine, the 5th greatest fighter of all-time by historian Bert Sugar and ranked as the #1 middleweight and the #2 pound-for-pound fighter of all-time by the International Boxing Research Organization. He had a highly aggressive, very fast, swarming style of fighting and buried his opponents under a blizzard of punches. Greb was also a master at dirty fighting and had no qualms about employing all manner of dubious tactics, such as spinning his opponent and using the heel and laces of his gloves. Greb often got as much as he gave and unbeknownst to the press continued to fight a number of matches even as he became blind in one eye, due to an injury suffered in an earlier match. The Pittsburgh Windmill was also very durable, suffering only 2 TKO losses. The first was in his seventh bout and the second happened 3 years later when Greb broke the radius of his left arm. Greb finished the round but was unable to continue the fight. The second was in a bout where Greb was heavily outweighed. Born as Edward Henry Greb to Pius and Annie Greb, he began his professional boxing career in 1913, fighting mostly around his hometown of Pittsburgh. By 1915, he was fighting world class opposition, notably hall of famer Tommy Gibbons and reigning Middleweight Champion George Chip, whom he faced twice during the years 1915-1916 in non-title fights. Greb would lose both fights by newspaper decision (at the time, the rendering of an official decision at the end of a fight was prohibited, so newspapers covering the fight would render a decision), losses he would later avenge. Greb would fight 37 times in the sole year 1917 (a record), winning 34 of those fights either officially or unofficially. Among his victims that year were the reigning Light Heavyweight Champion Battling Levinsky (in a non-title fight), former Light Heavyweight Champion Jack Dillon, middleweight George Chip and heavyweight Willie Meehan, who had beaten future Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey earlier in the year. Despite all these great results, Greb was still denied a chance to fight for a title. A February 1918 newspaper loss to Mike ODowd, who would go on to win the Middleweight title during the year, didnt help in his effort. After that setback though, Greb would go unbeaten for over two years. During that stretch, he would beat future Light Heavyweight Champion Mike McTigue, heavyweight contenders Gunboat Smith, Billy Miske, and Bill Brennan, and defeat Battling Levinsky no less than five times in newspaper decisions. Levinsky was the reigning Light Heavyweight Champion at the time.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 17:20:54 +0000
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