On Harry Greb...?

Question

If Greb had 20/20 do you feel he would have had more wins/less loses. Or could it have been because of his handicap, which is what made/created his boxing greatness. Your thoughts.

Answer 1

Harry Greb is regarded by most as one of the best pound for pound fighters of all time alongside Sugar Ray Robinson and Henry Armstrong.  I read that he did not lose his eyesight until he fought someone by the name of Kid Norfolk, and in that fight Norfolk threw a punch and twisted his hand right before the punch landed so that the thumb of the glove hit Greb in his eye really hard.  And instead of getting mad at him for the foul, Greb actually praised him for his "handiwork"! (Greb was a dirty fighter himself).  I think that it only may have effected Greb at the very end of his career, but even then I don't think it really had that much effect because Greb was one of those guys who always liked to fool around with women and booze before his fights and many of the fights that he won, he didn't train all that hard for them- he was just naturally a great, talented fighter.

Answer 2

Arguably one of boxing's all time pound for pound best, and one of the most brutal greats in history.  Obviously with both eyes he would have been even greater than he was.

Answer 3

The Human Windmill Harry Greb was one of the most natural fighters of all time.  He had great handspeed and knew every trick in the book.  Greb just loved to fight and he feared nobody in the ring.  It has been said tht he even challenged Jack Dempsey and of course is well known for giving Gene Tunney his only career loss.  Yes I believe his record would have been a little better with greater vision.  What is amazing is all those fights he fought being nearly blind in one eye.  Amazing fighter.

Answer 4

He had close to 200 bouts before the blindness in the eye.  He fought like a man possessed using elbows, his head, whatever he could get away with.  His nickname was the "Pittsburg Windmill".  He fought a guy by the name of Tiger Flowers, who fought just like him, which is why Flowers beat him twice.  No I think Greb was one of the greats and the loss of  sight in his eye didn't slow him down or make him a better or worse fighter.

Answer 5

His record was 260-21-17, it doesn't get much better than that in the first place, so I don't quite understand where you're coming from.

His greatness was based on the fact that he has the absolute best wins resume in boxing history, beating 18 champs from MW to HW. He didn't develop retinal problems until later in his career.