A Summary of Greb

[marbleheadmaui]

Once again you've provided us with a quality post.

Greb is kind of a mythic figure since there's no footage of him, but to know that such great fighters thought so highly of him is something amazing and in this day and age of such fragile egos we don't usually see this amount of respect between rivals now'a'days.

Greb had a number of very good and original nicknames ie "The Human Windmill", "The Smoke City Wildcat" etc.

The fact that Greb did what he did in terms of defeating great fighters while fighting every three weeks (on average) for fifteen years just boggles the mind. He had a rep as a drinker and party guy? Not a chance.

He would be fiercely criticized today for "padding" his record.

Why do you think modern day fighters can't take the schedule/punishment of the old boys?

I suspect the following (in no order)

1. I think fighters back in the day believed they didn't have any choice. A guy like Greb believed if he didn't fight he couldn't stay sharp or improve. Today fighters think they have a choice.
2. Back then almost everyone grew up doing constant, daily physical labor from an early age. It toughened their bodies and their minds in a way that TV, video games, office jobs, automobiles, the internet and a few hours daily in the gym never can.
3. The attitude was simply different. It is telling that in Jimmy Wilde's 1920 book on the art of boxing, he devotes a chapter to injuries and how to conceal them. Think about THAT mindset for a moment!
4. The sport today is so much smaller than it was in Greb's day. I'm not sure a top guy could find an even remotely competitive fight once a month, every month, for a decade no matter how willing to travel he was.