The Washington times., 1927-03-14


unique, peerless and alone in his
Considering his inches and his
poundage, j do not think a greater
warrior ever lived. Many men have
come and gone who could hit harder
than Greb; there have been some
who were faster and more scientific.
But Greb yielded to no man of this
generation in the matter of courage,
nor In his battling attack and even
more battling defense.
/ think Of him always as the
enigma OF the prize ring, in so
4 far as energy was considered.
Where he got it from, how he
~ preserved Il through 200 battles
and Is years Of grueling ring
warfare, i do not knoW--n0r
j does anyone else. Yet Greb, in 2
+ the last fights Of his career.
when he had slipped beyond the
SB-year mark, was as tireleSS
and as dynamic as In the long
gone days when he first drew
on the gloves.
He rarely trained for fights; he
broke most of the golden rules of
of 1t. He did the things that would
have written an early "finis" upon
the careers Of 999 men out of 1,00e.
But all that he did that was I'M
ethical from the physical standpoint,
never stole from his linlitless reser-
voir of energy. nor slowed him IN
his ring action or made any inn
press upon his fistic greatness.
Five times tangled up with
himand the first and last meet
ing were years apart. Yet. in the
last, when Greb was aging and
when years of easy life lay be-
hind him, / found him as tireless
and as fearless and as wonderful
as in the earlier days when he
was younger and had more of youth
TO call upon to aid him. Five
times met him-and through the
SIS rounds Of fighting / never
could force him to take back
ward step through the impulse Of
fear.
Greb was the most difficult
man to fight that l ever met
In my career. When meeting
him, it was necessary to toss
aside all the orthodox methods
!, of ring battling. For Greb
fought in way that made the
ordinary method of attack and
defense utterly useless.
I hit him a thousand blows in
the SIS rounds that we met; a hun.
dred times it seemed that I must
have hurt him. Yet, the remark
able thing was that the harder /
hit the fastese he came in at me
and the more tigerish was the fury
Of his attack.
He was called ''The Rubber Ball''
land shall always think Of him
as that. The title fits. For Greb
was like a rubber ball. The harder
one bounces a bali against a wall,
the faster IT comes back-and the
greater the force of the return.
Greb was like that. Tap
him-and he'd just come tap
1 ping in. Hit him q powerful
smash, and he was back at you
fighting with cyclOnic fury. His
was chin of concrete: his was
/ q body CT iron. And his heart
1 was as st0ut as oak. He feared
I nothing that walked on two
! feet; he thought he could whip
i any man on two feet-and he
fought the way he thought.
Harry Greb threw more punches
in single round than many fight
ers let loose in an entire battle.
He punches with either hand from
any angle. There was no telling
where his next punch would come
from, And no man ever had
chance to figure him out. For
while that man was committing
the folly of trying to outguess
Greb. the Rubber Ball. had thrown
b dozen blows-and was throwing
y dozen more.
He came in sometimes in a
crouch; sometimes standing up;
sometimes with a leap through the
air. And always his fists were
swinging with the rapidity Of ma.
chine-gun fire. Leaping, twisting,
turning, crouching. running Grebe
came IN--IN-AND IN.
No defense ever was built that
really could keep him back; no
attack ever was perfected that
could drive him back and either
keep him backing or hammer him
to the floor. He could take an
almost unbelievable amount of