Harry Greb | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Edward Henry Greb June 6, 1894 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | October 22, 1926 (aged 32) |
| Other names | The Pittsburgh Windmill The Smoke City Wildcat |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Welterweight Middleweight Light heavyweight Heavyweight |
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
| Reach | 71 in (180 cm) |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 299;[1] with the inclusion of newspaper decisions |
| Wins | 261 |
| Wins by KO | 49 |
| Losses | 16 |
| Draws | 19 |
| No contests | 1 |
Edward Henry Greb (June 6, 1894 – October 22, 1926) was an American professional boxer. Nicknamed "The Pittsburgh Windmill", "The Smoke City Wildcat", and "The Pittsburgh Bearcat",[2] many boxing historians widely regard him as one of the best pound for pound boxers of all time.
He was the American light heavyweight champion from 1922 to 1923 and the world middleweight champion from 1923 to 1926. He fought 298 times in his 13-year career, which began at around 140 pounds. He fought against the best opposition the talent-rich 1910s and 20s could provide him and, despite starting as a welterweight, he was frequently squaring off against and beating light heavyweights and even heavyweights.
Greb had a highly aggressive, fast and swarming style of fighting and buried his opponents under a blizzard of punches. He was elusive and had good footwork to jump in and out on opponents. He was also a master at dirty fighting. He had no qualms about employing all manner of dubious tactics, such as spinning his opponent and using the heel and laces of his gloves.[3] Greb often got as much as he gave and unbeknownst to the press continued to fight several 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 in his career. The first was in his seventh year when he was knocked out by an opponent who heavily outweighed him; the second happened three years later when Greb broke the radius of his left arm. Greb finished the round but was unable to continue the fight.[4] Greb's ultimate weakness may have been his lack of knockout power; although he was able to hurt and bust up many opponents due to the constant onslaught of clean punches he landed on them, he struggled to stop them but this was often because his opponents were much larger than him. He launched a vicious beating on the light heavyweight Tunney on two occasions, cutting him and hurting him badly, but was unable to knock him out both times. It was the same process with many opponents.
Widely considered one of the best fighters of all time, Greb is currently ranked by BoxRec as the 5th greatest fighter. Greb was also named the 2nd greatest fighter of the past 80 years by the Ring Magazine, the 5th greatest fighter of all time by historian Bert Sugar, the 4th greatest fighter of all time by historian and boxing commentator Max Kellerman and ranked as the #1 middleweight, the #13 light heavyweight, and the #2 pound-for-pound fighter of all time by the International Boxing Research Organization in 2006, another poll by IBRO in 2019, Greb was ranked once again as the #1 middleweight, the #9 light heavyweight, and the #3 pound-for-pound fighter of all time .[5][6][7][8]
- ^ "BoxRec: Login".
- ^ "Harry Greb". 6 June 2023.
- ^ Casey, Mike (October 30, 2012). "Phenomenon: Why Harry Greb Was So Great". Boxing.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
- ^ Cox, Monte D. "Harry Greb, The Human Windmill..."A Perpetual Motion Machine."". Cox's Corner. Retrieved 2014-04-05.
- ^ "Max Kellerman ranks Greb #4". Retrieved 2012-01-30.
- ^ Bert Sugar's All-Time Greatest Fighters. SportsIllustrated.com. Retrieved on 2014-04-11.
- ^ The 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years. BoxRec.com. Retrieved on 2014-04-11.
- ^ Twitter https://twitter.com/maxkellerman/status/597242820403941378. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
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