Continuing his GOATs of boxing series, Dan Morley looks over the career of one of boxing’s greatest.
THE mythical claim of Greatest of All Time is an argument that will take place forever. Many opinions differ on who rightfully deserves their place amongst the pinnacle of boxing greatness and it’s difficult to compare eras, considering the natural evolution of the sport since the turn of the 20th century.
However, I believe there are nine fighters throughout history whose body of work gives them the strongest claim to GOAT status. Men whose achievements border on mythical, compiling resumes beyond belief and dominating in a manner that has never been surpassed at the peak of their powers whilst avoiding no challengers and remaining active.
You may have already read about the likes of Roberto Duran and Willie Pep. In this series, I will be covering each of these nine men’s careers and stating why I think their claim to the ‘Greatest Ever’ is so impactful. This is not to discredit any of the other legendary fighters who aren’t on this list. I simply believe what these men achieved and the manner in which they did so is just in a bracket of its own.
Today, I’ll be covering perhaps the most fascinating fighter of all time, ‘The Pittsburgh Windmill’ Harry Greb.
Harry Greb
Record: 261-16-19 (49 KOs)
Years active: 1913-1926
Harry Greb lived fast and died young. In his 32 years of life, he dodged bullets, drove cars manically and fought 299 professional fights, not including his brutal public exhibitions. Greb, in his prime, was a complete anomaly, fighting constantly in bouts ranging anywhere from 10 to 20 rounds and beating practically every major name from welterweight to heavyweight.
It’s important to note no footage has survived of any of Greb’s fights, but from the accounts of all of the greats who witnessed him, he was extremely active (Teddy Atlas states that in today’s landscape, he would’ve broken the punch stats machine) and very elusive.
He swarmed fighters early on in his career and attacked at an unrelenting pace for the duration of long fights. It’s also worth noting he wasn’t a huge puncher, which makes his unprecedented dominance across so many weight classes even more fascinating. Toward the latter stages of his career, after suffering horrendous injuries, he altered his style using more dirty tactics.
His resume is the most impressive ever, with 33 victories over 16 different international boxing Hall of Famers, ranging from welterweight champions to some of the greatest heavyweight champions ever.
In total, Greb fought in well over 60 fights against world champions and Hall of Famers. To put it into modern context, he has over 20 more victories against Hall of Famers than either Mayweather or Pacquiao. The great Jimmy McClarnin is second all-time in different Hall of Famers defeated with 13, three behind Greb.
Early on in his career, whilst learning the professional craft, Greb suffered the majority of his defeats and draws, honing a record of 53-8-11 after 73 fights. Once he hit his peak, the ‘Smoke City Wildcat’ went on an absolute war path of dominance that has never been matched.
Across his next 164 fights in a six-year span, he lost just three times and avenged every defeat. The pinnacle of that peak was his staggering 1919, where across 12 months, he achieved a perfect 45-0 record, defeating many of the greats of the era.
Greb had intended to extend that streak further, but illness and injury forced him to take out a few months of the year. The unbeaten streak would ultimately extend to 52-0 before Tommy Loughran defeated him. He responded with another 50-plus fight unbeaten streak, meaning at his best, he lost just once in over 100 fights, competing across a stretch of what would be five weight divisions today.
Through these years, he dispatched many of boxing’s greatest fighters countless times. He hospitalised legendary heavyweight world champion Gene Tunney in the first of their five-fight saga, brutalising ‘The Fighting Marine’ in the only defeat Gene ever suffered across 80-plus fights.
Hall of Famers in Battling Levinsky and Jeff Smith suffered six defeats to Greb each, Tommy Loughran four defeats, Tommy Gibbons two defeats and Leo Hauck three defeats. During his run as a middleweight contender, he was refused a shot at the title.
Therefore, after dominating at light-heavyweight, he decided to gun for Jack Dempsey’s heavyweight crown, where he defeated heavyweight title challenger Bill Brennan and leading heavyweight contenders Billy Miske, Gunboat Smith and Kid Norfolk. Despite being the leading contender for Dempsey’s heavyweight crown, the fight was never made – Greb publicly sparred Dempsey, giving the champion a brutal beating in front of a crowd.
Eventually, after 239 fights, Greb finally became the world middleweight champion, which he held for two years and 56 fights. Throughout his reign, he defeated the incredible Mickey Walker, a dual-weight world champion (who Bert Sugar ranked among the 10 greatest fighters of all time) in the most brutal 15-round war of the 1920s.
Supposedly, the pair fought again on the streets later that evening. Two weeks later, Greb defeated one of the best light-heavyweights ever in Maxie Rosenbloom over 15 rounds. In their rematch, he lost the title to the brilliant middleweight champion Tiger Flowers, having won the first bout, which brings up another important factor in judging Greb’s career. He never drew the colour line.
In an era where black fighters were outright avoided due to the colour of their skin, Greb gave many black fighters of the era, such as Tiger Flowers, Kid Zulu, Kid Norfolk and Jack Blackburn, a chance to fight.
After defeating Flowers, Greb even made it his priority to personally ensure Flowers’ safety by waiting outside his door to prevent any racial attacks from angry fans, taking the champion to his train and ensuring he boarded safely.
Having covered his dominance and success, it’s worth noting that Greb was also one of the toughest fighters to ever step in the ring. He was stopped just twice across his career, one via KO in only his eighth pro fight and the other due to a broken arm. What makes the Greb legend far more fascinating is the fact he maintained an inhuman level of activity whilst dealing with so many severe injuries, yet still never lost.
In just the first half of his career, Greb suffered a broken hand twice, broken nose twice, broken arm, broken ribs, ankle ligament damage, multiple split lips, boils which became infected, severe flu, multiple cuts, ear infection, run over by a car and split his head open in a Turkish Bath.
He also had to stay inactive when serving in the navy in the First World War and many other injuries occurred in the second half of his career, most notably being permanently blinded in one eye in his fight against Kid Norfolk, which he kept a secret until his death.
Greb packed more into 32 years than many could in multiple lifetimes, suffering great tragedy, losing multiple siblings and his wife, often being called upon to see off local troublemakers in bars, evading bullets when a gunman fired upon his friends, supposedly tussling with the mob when they offered to bribe his fights and most famously driving like a maniac, which ultimately led to his downfall.
Following a car crash which broke his nose, Greb headed to the hospital to receive minor nose surgery in a procedure that would take his life. He was just 32 years old. His great rival, Tiger Flowers, would pass away the following year similarly due to nose surgery at 32.
Whilst living one of the wildest lives of any pugilist in such a short space of time, he’s also left a legacy that, in my opinion, has never been surpassed and arguably never been matched.
Greb’s victories over Hall of Famers and world champions are as follows:
Gene Tunney, Battling Levinsky 6x, Mickey Walker, Tiger Flowers, Jeff Smith 6x, Frank Moody, Jack Dillon 2x, Billy Miske, Mike O’Dowd, Mike Gibbons, Leo Hauck 3x, George Chip, Al McCoy, Kid Norfolk, Tommy Gibbons 2x, Tommy Loughran 4x, Maxie Rosenbloom, Jack Blackburn, Mike Mctigue 2x, Johnny Wilson 3x, Jakob Bartfield 3x, Bill Brennan 4x and Eddie McGoorty. Scoring 49 wins out of the 70 fights he would have against those listed above.
