The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1942-06-12

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Grantland Rice places Greb close
second to the UNI
breakable Chuck In the way of
toughness-not as a fighter. Greb
was the fellow Tunney always
placed on top as the best man,
pound for pound, he ever met.
Commander Tunney is now help
ing dynamic Stan Griffis in the
Navy Relief drive. We were talk
ing about Virgins (almost national
ly), and about Harry Greb.
"PI give yon two examples"
Gene said, (which bring In both
men. On my way to my first
Dempsey fight l met Chuck Wig
gins. At the time was working on
right uppercut TO the body. was
still raw with this punch. As Wig
gins came in I happened to hit him
low punches on two occasions. Each
time the referee warned me. Wig
gins could have dropped and
claimed q foul either time, and
would have been awarded the fight.
"But when the referee warned
me, Virgins turned to him with a
snarl. Leave us alone he said,
'Tunney didn't hit me low. 1t was
fair punch Naturally that stopped
the referee.
The Can1est Fighter
"About the fifth round" Tunney
continued, II whipped in with
right body uppercut and / used all
l had. Chuck had come in fast
and the punch landed low--way be-
low the belt. Again the referee
warned me and once again Virgins
told him to get away, that the punch
was belt high.
"But as we moved into a clinch
Virgins whispered, Say, Gene,
keep 'em up little. That last one
hurt
THAT was Chuck Virgins, the
gamest, toughest man ever fought.
He could have claimed the fight
three times against me that night,
and gotten away with it. But not
Chuck"
"Wiggins always said Greb was
the toughest man he ever fought"
l suggested to Tunney.
81 can't say he was wrong" Gene
said with a grin. "I'll tell you
something about Greb, too"
"The last time I met Harry he
was blind in one eye. Maybe the
other wasn't any too good, but he
was still something to handle. In
one round as Greb came charging
in I nailed him with a full right to
the body. could feel my glove
against his spine. / saw his mouth
fly open and his eyes start rolling.
l stepped back to let Greb fall. I
knew this was a knockout punch.
"The next thing knew Harry had
me on the ropes trying to hammer
my head off. I felt for few Sec
onds that ! was in cage with a
wild tiger. / had to finish the round
protecting myself. That was Harry
Greb."
The Making of Tunney
Commander Tunney will tell you
that his battles with Chuck Virgins
and Harry Greb were the two main
factors in getting him ready for the
first Dempsey fight.
Tunney won't admit that he thinks
both Virgins and Greb were even
tougher than Dempsey, but that's
how he feels down In his heart.
don't mean harder punchers. Mel
Their was q killing puncher. But I
mean rough, tough, to-hell-with-the-
rules, anything goes.
In getting ready for Dempsey I'll
say for Tunney that he. never picked
the rose-patched or the violet
bordered road. When he selected
Chuck Virgins, Harry Greb and
Rubberman Risko he elected to
walk through garden of thorns
and poison ivy. Anyone who could
wade through this trio, especially
the Greb part, even though he was
half blind, was about ready to walk
into cage and grab the raw meat
away from Bengal tiger.
Tunney still rates Greb the great
est fighter he ever met. So does
everyone else who ever met Greb,
especially the bigger fellows who
were his meat. Or you might six
Mickey Walker, on the smaller side,
and about as good and as tough as
they happened to come along.
The ring knows a far longer list
of great fighting men under $50
pounds than over that mark-Jim-
my Wilde, Joe Cans, Kid Lavigne,
Joe Walcott. Benny Leonard, Owen
Moran, Frank Erne, Terry Meow
ern, Driscoll. Welsh, Attell, Nelson,
Wolgast, on and on.
And how many fighters, pound for
pound, ever could match Harry
Greb, Stanley Ketchell, Sam Lang
ford, or Jack Blackburn?
Greb at 100 almost murdered such
! heavyweights as Gene Tunney, Tom
Gibbons, Jack Dillon and others
from 100 10 200 pounds.