Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-10
GREB BEST BOXER
MET BYL 0UGHRAN
Harry Called One of Greatest
Natural Fighters in
Games History.
BY TOMMY LOUGHRAN,
Outstanding Contender for the Heavyweight
Championship of the World.

Championship OF the World.
~ ONE time ago in an interview I
named Harry Greb as the best
fighter I had ever met. 1t sur
~ prised lot OF people that rated
him ahead of Gene Tunney, Sec
ond on my list. Gene was good boxer
and a sharp hitter, but was entirely
mechanical and lacked interest in the
game. Everything he did in the ring
had the stamp of the machine.
On the other hand, Greb was one OF
the greatest natural flghting men the
game ever saw. No one ever had more
inexhaustible supply of stamina. He
could go at top speed through an entire
fight and never tire. When you con-
slider that he went through the last
three or four years of his life blind IN
his left eye and still was good enough
to whip almost everyone. he faced, you
begin to get an idea what a marvel he
really was. He should have been tar
get for a righ-hand punch under such
circumstances, but he never was.
Didn't Need Cleverness.
Greb wasn't clever in the everyday
sense He didn't have to be, for he
failed away with both hands all the
time, punching, cufing, slapping, heel
ing, gouging. You never saw as many
gloves in your life as you did when you
were in the ring with Harry. He wasn't
knockout puncher, because ne never
set himself for a wallop. He simply
overwhelming his opponents with flood
of blows.
Greb didn't lose more than half
dozen decisions in three or four hundred
fights, and was knocked out only once
by Joe Chip when he was just break
ing into the game. No one ever came
close to stopping him again.
fought Greb six times. No one
developed a greater appreciation OF his
peculiar ability than I. Though he was
only a middleweight, he took on the
biggest fellows without the least fear.
One of the brightest spots in my whole
record is a decision 1 hold over him.
He took one from me, though I thought
really won that, too, and the others
we're no-decision affairs.
II Harry could come back from the
grave in full possession of his remark
able faculties, he would be the man
for me to whip before getting the heavy
weight title. Dempsey wanted none of
him when Jack was champion Of the
world, and Greb gave Tunney a terrific
beating the first time they met. What
man he was!
He Needed Speed.
His style, though, is not one for the
average boxer to adopt. 1t could be
successful only when backed UP by the
most extraordinary stamina. Once he
slowed up he would have been a target
for the hard hitters. But Harry held
his speed to the day he died.
Speed is great asset. I've been
tuning mine up for the fuss with
Sharkey. am confident I can outpace
him, but with the speed I'm aiming to
get more dynamite into my right hand.
Boy, I'm just like q restless colt, wait
ing for September rs. It's going to be
the biggest day Of my life.
fought the best fight of my career
up to then against Jimmy Braddock.
I'm going to fight q better one against
Jack Sharkey, because there is even
more at stake, and can key myself to
higher pitch when the stake is big.
tCopyrisht, 1929 by North American News
paper Alliance.)